The Cameron Peak fire that’s been burning west of Fort Collins and north of Estes Park for a month exploded Wednesday afternoon with high winds and dry conditions, and moved significantly closer to Fort Collins city limits.
At the end of the day, the fire had burned 158,300 acres, taking over the claim as the biggest fire in Colorado's recorded history, a record set earlier this year by the Pine Gulch fire outside of Grand Junction.
The Larimer County Sheriff’s Office placed mandatory evacuation orders for at least five communities west of Fort Collins, including Lory State Park, Masonville and Redstone Canyon. Several other communities are under voluntary orders.
The Sheriff's Office is working with people who have been evacuated because of the Cameron Peak fire, said Jared Kramer, a spokesman with the office.
"We go to every residence, knock on the door — try to make contact with anybody who is there,” Kramer said. “If they choose not to leave then we don’t physically force them out but at a certain point we can’t get back in to get them out.”
The evacuated communities are about 10 to 30 miles south and west of Fort Collins.
Near 70 mph wind gusts blew over the area Wednesday morning and into the early afternoon, said Russell Danielson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boulder.
“The wind coming from the west and pushed the fire toward the east quite rapidly today,” Danielson said. “It has moved anywhere from 11 to 15 miles eastward, which is pretty remarkable.”
The massive plume of smoke covered the northern Front Range on Wednesday, and the strong winds carried it all the way to Iowa.
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October 15, 2020 at 08:52AM
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Cameron Peak Fire Burns 20000 Acres In A Day, Now Is Largest Fire In Colorado History - Colorado Public Radio
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