More than 1,200 firefighters have descended on northwestern Colorado as the Lee and Elk wildfires continue to explode, fueled by high winds and dry conditions.
In updates Saturday morning, fire officials said the Lee fire, which was started by lightning west of Meeker a week ago, has burned 88,755, up from 60,976 acres as reported Friday morning, with no containment. There are more than 710 personnel working that fire.
The Lee fire now ranks as the sixth largest wildfire in Colorado by acres. The largest was the Cameron Peak fire, which burned 208,913 acres in 2020.
The Elk fire, burning east of Meeker and also started last weekend by lightning, is up to an estimated 14,500 acres. It was considered 8% contained as of Saturday morning. There are about 570 firefighters on scene.
Operations planning chief Tyler Nathe said there was “significant fire behavior midday Friday into the evening” at the Lee fire. He said the southern portion of that fire was pushed by wind coming out of the north and “super-dry, available fuels.” Some of the wind was so strong it limited aircraft operations Friday afternoon.
All that extreme fire activity started to create its own weather over the Lee fire, Nathe said in an update late Friday night.
“It built up what we like to call a pyrocumulus cloud. That’s where it punched up above 30,000 feet,” Nathe said. “When it does that phenomenon, it starts to create its own weather at that point, and so it was creating some additional outflow and inflow winds at ground level, which was increasing the fire behavior as the main fire front was moving down to the southeast.”
Overnight Friday and into Saturday, fire crews worked ahead of the south side of the fire to protect homes in the area, he said.
Saturday morning, new evacuation and preevacuation notices were sent out for areas in Rio Blanco and Garfield counties south of the fire, per the Rio Blanco County Sheriff’s Office. A red flag warning for high winds is forecast again Saturday.
The Colorado Department of Corrections said Saturday it is moving 179 incarcerated individuals from the Rifle Correctional Center as a precaution because of the Lee fire. The 97-acre complex includes 24 buildings.
“In coordination with state and local emergency management officials, CDOC is transferring all incarcerated individuals to other secure facilities outside the fire-affected area to maintain safety and operational continuity. At this time, there are no reports of injuries to staff or incarcerated individuals,” officials said Saturday in a news release.
Gov. Jared Polis signed an executive order Friday, memorializing a previous emergency declaration he made in July for dangerous fire conditions on the Western Slope.