East Troublesome Fire forces evacuations, shutters national park in Colorado

Oct. 22 (UPI) -- The East Troublesome Fire has grown six-fold over the past 24 hours in northern Colorado, prompting evacuations and road closures in and around Rocky Mountain National Park, local emergency officials said Thursday.

Noel Livingston, the wildfire's incident commander, said the blaze was more than 125,000 acres as of Thursday morning, up from about 19,000 around 6 p.m. Wednesday. It's considered the state's fourth-largest wildfire in history.

Fueled by dry, windy weather and beetle-eaten pine trees, the fire spread across the Continental Divide east into Rocky National Park. It neared Estes Park, which is home to the Stanley Hotel, the inspiration for Stephen King's The Shining.

The Larimer County Sheriff's Office announced evacuations for the western portion of Estes Park and closed all roads into the town. The entire town of Grand Lake is also under evacuation orders and the national park has been closed.

"Evacuate the area immediately and as quickly as possible. Do not delay leaving to gather belongings or make efforts to protect your home or business," the sheriff's office said.

Grand County Sheriff Brett Schroetlin said in a briefing Thursday that "lots" of structures have been "lost" in his area.

The East Troublesome Fire has grown northeastward toward the boundaries of the Cameron Peak Fire, threatening a merger.

The Cameron Peak Fire is situated throughout the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest Pawnee National Grasslands to the north of the Rocky Mountain National Park. It stretches east toward Masonville and Fort Collins.

The fire has consumed more than 206,000 acres and was 55% contained as of Thursday morning. It's the largest fire in the state's history.

Farther south, firefighters have increased containment in the CalWood (24%) and the Lefthand Canyon (43%) fires near Boulder.

Emergency officials said cooler weather is expected to help firefighting efforts.

AccuWeather said an Arctic outbreak in the coming days could push colder temperatures into the Rocky Mountains by Sunday. There may even be a chance for snow in the region.