Latest news with #SpringCreekFire
CBS News
4 days ago
- Climate
- CBS News
Lee Fire now fifth-largest single wildfire in Colorado history. These are the other four.
The Lee Fire near Meeker is now over 113,000 acres, fire maps show, and has surpassed the Spring Creek Fire of 2018 as the state's fifth-largest wildfire. Over 1,000 firefighters and a dozen aircraft are involved in efforts to contain and extinguish the fire, along with the nearby Elk Fire. A number of evacuations have already been ordered. For a live, interactive evacuation zone map, you can click here. The size of the fire has exploded since growing from 13,000 to almost 23,000 acres on Aug. 6, when Gov. Jared Polis issued an emergency disaster declaration. It has grown steadily in the days since, breaking 100,000 acres on Sunday. The Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control maintains a list of the largest wildfires in the state's history. A quick overview of the agency's data shows the following: No homes have been lost in the fire, but several structures have been damaged. A full accounting of the damage likely can't be completed until the fire is extinguished, and as of Monday afternoon, it was only 7% contained. The most destructive fires in the state's history so far are as follows: At its current size on Monday, only four fires in state history are larger than the Lee Fire, although the West Fork Complex of 2013 comprised several fires in close proximity to one another, including the West Fork Fire at 58,570 acres and the Papoose Fire at 49,628 acres. Some rankings group the fires all as one, but the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control categorizes and ranks them separately. That agency's list shows the following four fires as being the only ones larger than the Lee Fire: Weather conditions are not expected to help containment efforts for some time, with relatively low humidity and winds of 7 to 10 mph until Friday. "Near critical fire weather will return today," the Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team said in a statement. "This will include low relative humidity, periods of gusty winds from the north and clouds in the late afternoon. Critical dry fuels with the expected weather could result in extreme fire behavior in some areas of the Lee Fire." There will be a community meeting about the Lee Fire at 7 p.m. on Monday at Colorado Mountain College's Rifle Campus, 3695 Airport Road, where fire officials will provide updates to the public and answer any questions that community members have.
USA Today
5 days ago
- Climate
- USA Today
Fast-moving wildfire forces evacuation of Colorado prison
The wildfire is nearing the fifth-largest blaze in Colorado history. A Colorado prison was evacuated due to a fast-growing wildfire that's already one of the largest in state history, officials said. The ongoing spread of the Lee Fire in western Colorado forced the relocation of 179 incarcerated individuals at the Rifle Correctional Center to the Buena Vista Correctional Complex on Aug. 9, a Colorado Department of Corrections news release said. While no injuries were reported at the prison — located about 70 miles northeast of Grand Junction, Colorado — all the inmates were moved outside the fire area "out of an abundance of caution." The Lee Fire, which began on Aug. 2, has quickly burned more than 106,700 acres, according to an update on InciWeb on Aug. 10. The blaze has reached 6% containment. Firefighters are battling near-critical fire weather, including lower humidity and periods of gusty winds. Despite cooler temperatures, the fire is aided by drier vegetation and steep slopes. The blaze is nearing the fifth-largest by acreage in state history, the 2018 Spring Creek Fire, which burned over 108,000 acres. All of Colorado's 20 largest fires have occurred in the last 25 years, according to the state Division of Fire Prevention and Control. The cause of the Lee Fire is still undetermined. In an overview of the fire, InciWeb, a government website that monitors wildfires, said the Lee and Grease fires, which eventually formed together, were "discovered on August 2nd as lightning strikes on Bureau of Land Management land in the Piceance area." 'Drought with severe and extreme weather conditions, along with multiple days of red flag warnings and heightened fire activity, the Lee fire grew over 100,000 acres in eight days,' according to InciWeb. Several western states, including Colorado, are battling large wildfires. California has its largest fire of 2025: Over 118,000 acres are estimated to have burned in the Gifford Fire, with 33% containment, according to InciWeb. Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at emcuevas1@ or on Signal at emcuevas.01.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Some of Colorado's mountains have no snowpack left after below-average winter
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (KDVR) — The latest data shows Colorado has just 59% of the median snowpack it has seen over the last three decades. 'This winter has not been a good one in terms of snowpack,' state climatologist Russ Schumacher said. FOX31 Newsletters: Sign up for weather alerts from the Pinpoint Weather team The southwestern corner of the state is suffering the worst. According to the USDA's Natural Resource Conservation Service, Cortez and the Four Corners have zero moisture left to melt. 'It got off to a really fast start in November. There are places that were at or near record highs in early November with the huge snowstorm that happened and then barely got any more snow the rest of the winter. And now melting out early because it's been so sunny and warm over the last few weeks,' Schumacher said. Schumacher says it will lead to low flows in the rivers during the spring runoff. 'We're kind of getting into the conversation of some of those really bad drought years in the past,' he said. The U.S. drought monitor predicts about three-quarters of Colorado will be experiencing drought conditions by the end of July. According to Schumacher, Coloradans may face water restrictions, reduced output from the agricultural industry and an increased risk of wildfire. 'If you have rainfall in the summer that's timed well, that can really prevent the wildfire situation from getting really bad even if it's otherwise a dry year. But those years where the snowpack is low and we have long lasting drought, those tend to be the years that have a lot of fire,' Schumacher said. He points to similar snowpack conditions in 2018. In June of that year the 416 Fire burned 55,000 acres in Durango and the Spring Creek Fire scorched another 108,000 acres near La Veta in July. What is severe weather season in Colorado? However, there is still some time for mother nature to turn things around. 'We'll have a storm coming into the mountains tomorrow. There may be a bigger storm next week so there's still a chance for things to recover up here in the northern part of the state,' Schumacher said. Inching closer May and June though, he said spring storms may not be enough to fix the precipitation problems in southern Colorado. 'The reservoirs that we have in Colorado do help to provide a savings account for a dry year. So usually one dry year is possible to get through because there's water stored up in the reservoirs,' Schumacher said. 'Some of the places in southern Colorado that had poor snowpack last year as well, their reservoirs didn't fill up that much last summer. That's where the bigger concerns are.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
