The containment of a wildfire burning near Meeker dropped Monday as strong winds pushed the flames to consume thousands more acres, according to fire officials.
The 116,859-acre Lee fire is burning southwest of Meeker and, as of Monday evening, was Colorado’s fifth-largest wildfire on record. It’s also the largest wildfire currently burning in the state.
By Monday, four wildfires in western Colorado — including the Lee fire — had consumed nearly 138,000 acres.
The Lee and Elk fires near Meeker
Two lightning-sparked wildfires burning on either side of Meeker in Rio Blanco County charred more than 130,000 acres between when they started on Aug. 2 and Monday evening.
The Lee fire, which started southwest of Meeker and is spreading toward Rifle in Garfield County, was last mapped at 116,859 acres with 6% containment.
That containment dropped slightly Monday from the originally reported 7% after “fast-moving flames pushed by the wind” charred thousands of new acres, according to fire officials.
What does it mean when a wildfire is “contained”? A look at how containment is determined.
Areas around the fire in Rio Blanco County remain under mandatory evacuation orders on Tuesday, according to the county’s emergency map.
That includes a stretch of Colorado 64 north of the fire, areas along Colorado 13 east of the fire from Colorado 64 to Monument Peak and multiple zones along the fire’s southern edge.
East of Meeker, the Elk fire is burning on 14,549 acres with 30% containment, fire officials said Monday evening. The wildfire has grown roughly 300 acres since Thursday.
The Oak fire near Pagosa Springs
Evacuations remained in place Monday for the 75-acre Oak fire burning near Pagosa Springs, according to the Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office.
The fire sparked Sunday afternoon and quickly grew, evacuating two subdivisions and putting a large section of Pagosa Springs on pre-evacuation status, sheriff’s officials said. The pre-evacuation orders were lifted Monday evening, but the mandatory evacuation zone remained closed to residents.
That includes the Elk Park and Aspen Springs subdivisions.
“Fire crews will continue to work throughout the night and (Tuesday) morning on the perimeter and interior sections to ensure that all hazards near residences are addressed,” sheriff’s officials said in a Monday night update.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis declared a disaster emergency for the fire on Sunday and authorized the National Guard to assist in firefighting efforts.
The wildfire threatened more than 5,100 buildings and 2,000 homes, according to a news release from the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Monday.
As of Monday, the wildfire had damaged a small barn, one pump house, one pergola, one carport and a camper trailer, but no homes had been burned.
The Stoner Mesa fire near Dolores
A wildfire that sparked last week in southwestern Colorado’s San Juan National Forest nearly doubled in size Monday, fire officials said.
The Stoner Mesa fire, which started about 20 miles northeast of Dolores in an “extremely difficult-to-access area” of the national forest, had consumed 6,205 acres with no containment as of Monday evening, according to fire officials.
That morning, the fire had been mapped at 3,579 acres.
“Much of that growth was near the western edge, where strong northerly winds pushed fire south along the eastern side of Stoner Creek,” fire officials said in a Monday evening update.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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