Update: The Lee Fire has now grown to be the 5th largest wildfire in state history. Follow the latest updates here.
DENVER (KDVR) One of the fires burning now more than 100,000 acres in Rio Blanco County in northwest Colorado continues to grow during ongoing “near-critical fire weather” conditions, though fire crews are slowly starting to contain the blaze.
The Lee Fire, one of two fires in Rio Blanco County in addition to the much smaller Elk Fire, has burned 106,672 acres near the town of Meeker. The Elk Fire has held relatively steady at 14,635 acres, fire officials reported Sunday morning.
Both fires do have some containment, according to officials, with the Elk Fire 9% contained and the Lee Fire 6% contained. More than 1,000 personnel are working on fire response.
The Lee Fire is the 6th largest fire in Colorado history, according to the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control.
“Although crews were able to make excellent progress with firefighting efforts, and there was less smoke in the air as days before, firefighters still saw extreme fire behavior today,” officials said in a Saturday night post.
The extreme fire behavior was likely to continue Sunday amid low humidity, gusty winds and a lack of cloud coverage.
“The very dry fuels with the expected weather could result in extreme fire behavior in some areas of the fire,” officials said Sunday morning.
Several areas of Rio Blanco County and Garfield County are under evacuation or pre-evacuation notices.
