Authorities said a fire in Colorado that had been burning since mid-August broke out again on Saturday in warm, dry weather and strong winds, leading to new mandatory evacuations.
The Cameron Peak Fire, the largest wildfire in the state’s history, burned across 187,537 acres with 57 percent contained, according to the U.S. Forest Service. A fire blossomed west of Fort Collins as gust winds blew before a cold front.
Cass Cairns, a spokeswoman for several agencies about the accident, said the fire burned so deeply that it snowed more than once, temporarily halting progress but ultimately had little effect in the long term.
“It dries up very quickly,” she said.
And announced the new evacuation city on Saturday Land of love. The evacuation map appears to cover more than 100 square miles. Larimer County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Jared Kramer said on Saturday that eviction notices had been sent to 3,000 recipients in the past 24 hours.
A Saturday report issued by the National Center for Interagency Coordination stated that “several communities have been threatened”.
Cairns said investigators have not established the cause of the fire, which began on August 13. This week’s wind event was the fourth since mid-August, and each event was before a cold front that brought little relief.
Experts said this year’s record fires in the West are linked to climate change.
Cairns said the Colorado fire season usually ends in September. Ski resorts often start to open in October, but this year some will come across the Cameron Peakfire.
A spokesman for the Loveland ski area did not immediately respond to a request for information. The resort said in a press release on Monday that it received nearly 6 inches of snow on October 11 and was producing man-made powder. It opened last year on October 25, but no opening date has been set for 2020.
The National Weather Service predicted a temperature rise near 70 on Saturday in Loveland. The agency warned of “dangerous weather” caused by winds of up to 50 miles per hour. Rain and snow were tolerable on Sunday night before warm temperatures returned.
She said the high winds kept the water-dropping planes and the dampers from operating on Saturday.
The Cameron Peak Fire comes during a devastating year due to wildfires in the West, including the August Compound Fire in California, the largest in that state.
The National Interagency Coordination Center said Saturday that there are 29 large “uninhibited” fires burning in the United States. Alongside local, state and federal firefighters, US Marines and even crews were sent from Mexico to suppress some of them.
