Winds push Colorado wildfire to largest in state history

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — One of two Rocky Mountain wildfires that have been fanned by strong winds has become the largest in Colorado's history.

Winds gusting over 70 miles per hour (113 kilometres per hour) on Wednesday pushed the Cameron Peak Fire in northern Colorado eastward across sparsely populated, high-country forest, causing the fire to grow by 45 square miles (115 square kilometers). As of Thursday, it had burned 256 square miles, about 40 square miles (104 square kilometers) more than the Pine Gulch Fire, the previous largest blaze in the state. That fire, which burned north of Grand Junction, was fully contained on Sept. 15.

Cool autumn weather had been helping firefighters in their efforts to quell it along with the 276-square-mile (715-square -kilometer) Mullen Fire in southeastern Wyoming and northern Colorado. But gusts of 70 mph have complicated their efforts.

The Cameron Peak Fire's growth prompted new evacuation orders as it spread toward communities outside Rocky Mountain National Park. The latest evacuations affected mainly recreational properties — including hundreds of mountain cabins — in and around the communities of Glen Haven and Drake east of Rocky Mountain National Park.