RIFLE — Firefighters are preparing for extreme fire behavior Wednesday as the Lee fire expands south between Meeker and Rifle. By Tuesday night, the fifth-largest fire in Colorado history grew to 120,650 acres and its containment dropped.
Forecasts call for temperatures to reach the high 80s or low 90s Wednesday, while humidity could drop to the single digits, according to Rocky Mountain Incident Command public information officer Bethany Urban.
While smoke that has plagued Rifle will shift north, the warm temperatures and an unstable atmosphere could cause the smoke plume to get taller and larger. On Friday, the fire developed a pyrocumulus cloud, where it soared above 30,000 feet and created its own weather system.
At a community meeting Monday, Rocky Mountain Incident Command team meteorologist Rose Schoenfeld explained that the atmosphere change Wednesday will allow for more gusty winds, which are expected to reach 26 mph.
“We are looking at another really tough weather day tomorrow, and we’ve seen this fire’s ability to get up and run, and it has shown extreme fire behavior. It still has potential for extreme fire behavior,” Urban said Tuesday night. “Especially given the dryness of the fuels and the probability of ignition.”
Schoenfeld said in the past 30 days, the region has received less than 5% of normal precipitation, and rain is not expected until the weekend at the earliest.
Operations section chief Fred Tucker with the Rocky Mountain Incident Command team said Monday night the fire previously made a roughly 8-mile run down Colorado 13 in one day.
The Lee fire grew by nearly 4,400 acres Tuesday, bringing its containment down to 4%, from 7% Sunday. Currently, 1,284 firefighters are working the blaze, along with the Elk fire, which is burning east of Meeker. Firefighters on the Elk fire reached 75% containment Tuesday night, and it remains at 14,549 acres.
The Lee fire is the fifth-largest wildfire in state history behind the Cameron Peak (208,913 acres), East Troublesome (193,812) and Pine Gulch (139,007) fires all in 2020 and the Hayman fire (137,760) in 2002.
With the closure of Colorado 13, north-south travel in the northwestern part of the state has become increasingly difficult. The 45-minute trip between Rifle and Meeker has become a more than 2-hour drive on primarily gravel roads.
Smartphone map apps like Apple and Google Maps have also been slow to update road closure information. Urban recommends travelers heading to northwestern Colorado use Colorado Department of Transportation resources, including COtrip.org.
“That’s usually a pretty reliable source,” Urban said.