The wildfire burning south of Colorado Springs has grown to more than 7,300 acres and officials said the state highway on the west side of Fort Carson will likely remain closed through Friday.
The 24 fire started Wednesday and by Monday night crews were starting to contain the fire. In an update Monday morning officials said overnight “fire crews were successfully able to tie in all control lines, boxing in the fire. As of this morning, control lines remain strong.”
The fire started near mile marker 24 on Colorado 115, which connects Colorado Springs to Penrose. The road will be closed at least through Friday, but will be reevaluated daily, officials said Monday. The cause of the fire remains under investigation but started off the highway, not on the Army base, officials said last week.
The fire was mapped at 7,385 acres early Monday morning, up from 4,900 acres Sunday morning. Some of that growth is because of crews setting back burns Sunday to get ahead of the flames. Monday evening officials said they had about 24% containment of the fire’s perimeter. The fire is burning in parts of Fremont, El Paso and Pueblo counties.
Firefighters are working to keep the flames on the east side of the highway. There are homes on the west side of the road, and evacuations were lifted Monday afternoon for residents who were ordered to leave, the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office said. The area previously under evacuation will now shift to pre-evacuation status, and the area previously under pre-evacuation has been cleared.
Crews on Thursday had some containment, but the strong winds and low humidity pushed the fire late last week. There are no structures on the Army base that are threatened.