Winds push Colorado wildfire to largest in state history
Posted Oct 15, 2020 11:51:43 AM.
Last Updated Oct 15, 2020 12:00:24 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — One of two Rocky Mountain wildfires fanned by strong winds has become the largest in Colorado’s history.
Winds gusting over 70 mph (113 kph) on Wednesday pushed the Cameron Peak Fire in northern Colorado eastward across sparsely populated, high-country forest, causing the fire to grow by 45 square miles (115 square kilometres). As of Thursday, it had burned 256 square miles, about 40 square miles (104 square kilometres) more than the Pine Gulch Fire, the previous largest blaze in the state. That fire, which burned north of Grand Junction, was fully contained on Sept. 15.
Cool autumn weather had been helping firefighters in their efforts to quell it along with the 276-square-mile (715-square-kilometre) Mullen Fire in southeastern Wyoming and northern Colorado. But gusts of 70 mph have complicated their efforts.
The Cameron Peak Fire’s growth prompted new evacuation orders as it spread toward communities outside Rocky Mountain National Park. The latest evacuations affected mainly recreational properties — including hundreds of mountain cabins — in and around the communities of Glen Haven and Drake east of Rocky Mountain National Park.
Forecasters expected dry air and strong wind to pose a challenge for firefighters into the weekend.
The Associated Press
