⁍ Colorado firefighters are struggling to get ahead of the state’s largest wildfire on record.


⁍ New fires continue to erupt, including an 8,800-acre blaze that incinerated at least 26 homes.


⁍ The Cameron Peak Fire has scorched 203,634 acres in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests.


– “It’s extremely late; it should be snowing by now,” says a spokesman for the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center, a federal agency tasked with fighting wildfires in the region. “It’s so dry that it’s hard to get a handle on them.” In Colorado, firefighters are battling what Reuters calls the state’s “largest wildfire on record”—and the state is in the midst of a drought. The Cameron Peak Fire has scorched 203,634 acres in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests since it ignited in mid-August and is 62% contained, according to a wildfire tracking site. More than 50 structures have been destroyed, another 50,000 are threatened, and almost 13,000 people have been evacuated. Wildfire managers estimate that more than 50 structures have been destroyed in the Cameron Peak blaze, another 50,000 are threatened, and almost 13,000 people have been evacuated. Some 12,000 firefighters are battling blazes in Colorado and Wyoming. “It’s extremely late; it should be snowing by now,” says the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center spokesman. There have been few lightning strikes in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, so it is believed most of the wildfires are human caused. Tinder-dry fuels and high winds are causing flames to spread rapidly. “It’s so dry that it’s hard to get a handle on them,” he says.



Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-wildfire-colorado/late-season-wildfires-rage-across-drought-stricken-colorado-idUSKBN27502T