Wildfire season has arrived. There are at least five separate wildfires burning in southeast Colorado that have consumed more than 54,000 acres altogether as of Thursday. The National Weather Service has issued yet another Red Flag Warning for most of the southeast region of the state.
UPDATE:
The five southeast Colorado wildfires have continued to burn into Friday scorching nearly 60,000 acres in total, however firefighters have made containment headway.
The Pueblo Chieftain reports that the Bear Springs Fire is 50 percent contained having burned approximately 26,000 acres.
The Callie Marie Fire has burned 6,500 acres in the Comanche National Grasslands and is 30 percent contained.
Firefighters have fully contained the Brice Fire, however The Shell Fire has scorched approximately 25,000 acres and is 20 percent contained. Both fires were burning 40 miles south of La Junta.
The Navajo Fire in Teller County, six miles west of Cripple Creek, grew overnight to 50 acres and is zero percent contained, according to The Colorado Springs Gazette.
EARLIER:
The largest of the current fires is the Bear Springs Fire which has already scorched 26,000 acres around the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site, since its discovery on Tuesday and remains only 5 percent contained, reports The Pueblo Chieftain.
Just 15 miles to the west of the Pinon Canyon training site in the Comanche National Grassland, the Callie Marie fire has blackened 8,000 more acres and it approximately 7 percent contained according to reports by the Denver Post and Pueblo Chieftain.
The Shell Fire, in the canyon lands 40 miles south of La Junta along the Colorado 109, has burned nearly 20,000 acres and is zero percent contained, the Pueblo Chieftain reports. Evacuation orders are under way along County Road 197.6. And in the same region, the Brice Fire which is 90 percent contained consumed 2,500 acres as of Thursday.
Residents in the Navajo Mountain Mesa subdivision west of Cripple Creek have been ordered to evacuate as the Navajo Fire quickly grew to 50 acres and threatens homes in the subdivision, according to The Colorado Springs Gazette and Denver Post.
Colorado fire crews are actively fighting the blazes, but unfortunately the heat, gusty winds, low humidity and dryness of the eastern plains is creating “explosive fire growth potential” as the National Weather Service states in their warning for the region.