Hundreds of homes evacuated near Colorado wildfire, official says

(DENVER) — More than 700 homes were under evacuation orders near the town of Divide, Colorado, as a wildfire burned uncontained nearby, local law enforcement said Monday.

The so-called Highland Lake Fire had burned about 90 acres by 7 p.m. on Monday and was completely uncontained, Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell told reporters during a news conference.

A local disaster emergency was declared. One structure had been destroyed by Monday evening, the county said in an update.

“You’re going to see everybody throw everything we possibly can at this thing, starting early in the morning,” Mikesell said.

The sheriff’s office was requesting the aid of multiple agencies around the surrounding region, as they were expecting high winds, which may help the fire spread amid red flag conditions. Those winds were expected to be sustained at about 20 mph overnight, before strengthening to about 50 mph on Tuesday, he said.

The evacuation area included Cedar Mountain North to Golden Bell, Wayward Wind, Snowhill, Aspen Village, Broken Wheel, Alpine View, Beaver Lake Circle, Beaver Lake Placeand Star View Trail, the county said.

More homes were expected to be evacuated, Mikesell said.

“We’ll have more of an assessment tomorrow, but we want to get on this fire very quickly and be super aggressive with it,” he said.