Fires Scorch 3,000 Acres In Northwest Colorado
(AP) GREYSTONE, Colo. Wind gusting to 45 mph pushed a wildfire across 3,000 acres just north of Dinosaur National Monument Wednesday, and residents of 15 houses were advised to leave.
Evacuations were not mandatory and none of the houses was immediately threatened, said Lynn Barclay, a spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Land Management. An abandoned cabin was destroyed.
"It's hot, it's windy, it's dry. We're in extreme fire danger," Barclay said.
"When you have that combination and those high winds pushing it, it just races it through pinon juniper. The vegetation is really dry. It's really susceptible," she said.
Winds seemed to be calming down by afternoon, she said.
The fire had been estimated at 800 acres Tuesday night.
Fire officials have said a stump that was still smoldering after a lightning strike last week ignited the fire about 3.5 miles west of Greystone and 200 miles west of Denver.
Crews were headed to 150-acre fire about eight miles northeast of Westcliffe in southern Colorado.
Fire information officer Steve Segin said several subdivisions were nearby but he had no details on how many homes might be threatened.