Warmer weather, sunny skies and winds early this week could fuel fire dangers across Colorado, officials warn.
On Sunday, firefighters in at least two Colorado counties — Mesa and Teller — took on wildland blazes.
A fire along Colorado Highway 330 near Collbran in Mesa County consumed dozens of acres this afternoon, as fire crews battled wind-fed blazes up to 60-feet tall Sunday afternoon.
Three fire crews – from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Mesa County Sheriff’s Office, and Plateau Valley Fire Protection District – have the fire 100 percent contained after a successful backburn overnight Sunday, said Lisa McCannon, a sheriff’s office spokeswoman.
The fire in Mesa County didn’t destroy any homes or structures and no one was injured, but authorities remain on guard over the upcoming weather and fire potential.
“We’re in the red flag season,” McCannon said.
In Teller County,a 7-acre blaze was burning at Dome Rock State Park.
Warm, dry, windy conditions will continue to fuel wildfire risks across much of the state the next few days, according to the National Weather Service office in Boulder.
Weather forecasters in Boulder say the fire danger will be highest along the Front Range and in Northeast Colorado through Wednesday as temperatures climb into the 70s under sunny skies.
Strong winds on Tuesday and Wednesday, up to 20 mph, will dry out parts of the state and wildland fire dangers in the foothills and on the plains will rise, the National Weather Service warns.
Snow for the mountains and rain for Denver returns to the forecast on Thursday and Friday.
High winds before wet weather is the same scenario that played out earlier this month in Crowley County near Ordway, on Fort Carson in El Paso County and near Cabrondale on the Western Slope.
The fire in Crowley County raced through Ordway, destroying homes and taking two firefighters lives and a slurry pilot was killed battling the fire on Fort Carson.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.
