The Ferris fire in southwest Colorado shot up by another 8,864 acres Sunday evening and into Monday, though firefighters appeared to have gotten a better handle on the blaze throughout the day.
It is one of four fires scorching the state and driving evacuations. The largest blaze, the Aspen Acres fire that’s mostly in western Pueblo County, has also grown to 91,982 acres, and destroyed at least 263 homes.
The Ferris fire, burning in the San Juan National Forest and near Dolores, had burned 51,622 acres, or nearly 81 square miles, as of the latest updates Monday. However, firefighters also increased containment to 22% of the fire’s perimeter, up from 7% the day before.
Defensive work there included pre-burning the western rim of Dolores River Canyon on Monday afternoon.
The wildfire’s growth prompted new evacuations from the Dolores-Montezuma border north to Dolores County Road H.6, and east of Dolores County Road 15 to Canyon Rim, according to the Dolores County Office of Emergency Management.
Previous evacuations remained in place on Monday for residents east and west of the wildfires, according to Dolores County emergency officials. The eastern evacuation area was bordered to the north by Disappointment Road, to the south by the Glade Ranch community, to the west by the fire and to the east by Lone Mesa, according to the office. The western zone was bordered to the north by County Road J, to the south by County Road S, to the west by Cahone and to the east by the Bradfield area.
The Ferris fire started as three separate fires, all sparked by lightning in the San Juan National Forest on June 27. San Juan Incident Management Team 8 is leading the fire response.
The Gold Mountain fire, near Ouray, and Willow fire, near Leadville, also grew, though not as dramatically.
The Gold Mountain fire grew by about 1,300 acres, to 27,698, Monday. The roughly 43-square-mile blaze was about 3% contained as of the latest update Monday.
Mandatory evacuations remained in place Monday north and west of the fire, according to Ouray County’s evacuation map, including Lake Lenore. On Monday morning, the Gunnison County Office of Emergency Management issued new evacuation orders for residents in the southwest county. Those evacuations include south of Storm King Peak and east of Cimmaron Ridge to County Road 864A in the Cimmaron Valley.
“If you choose to ignore this Mandatory Evacuation order, you must understand that emergency services will not be available and you may not be rescued,” Gunnison County officials wrote on Facebook. “Volunteers will NOT be allowed to enter the area to provide assistance.”
The Willow fire stood at about 4,150 acres, or about 6.5 square miles, after growing by about 7 acres during the day. Containment also grew from about 1% to 5%.
The four fires have led to consistently worsening air quality across the state and prompting state health officials to issue advisories Monday morning. The official warning mostly covers central, west and southwest Colorado.
The newest alert from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment will remain in effect until at least 9 a.m. Tuesday, according to the agency. That alert covers Chaffee, Custer, Delta, Dolores, Fremont, Gunnison, Hinsdale, La Plata, Lake, Mesa, Mineral, Montezuma, Montrose, Ouray, Park, Pueblo, Saguache, San Juan, San Miguel and Summit counties.
If the smoke drops visibility to less than 5 miles in an area, it has reached unhealthy levels, state health officials said in the alert. Those with heart disease and respiratory illnesses, young children and older adults are more at risk.
An ozone action day alert was also in effect Monday for the Front Range Urban Corridor, from Douglas County to Larimer and Weld counties, according to the agency. The alert will remain in effect until at least 4 p.m. Monday and covers the Denver area, the Boulder area, Fort Collins and Greeley.
“Active children and adults, and people with lung disease, such as asthma, should reduce prolonged or heavy outdoor exertion,” state health officials wrote in the alert.
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