The Hayman Fire, burning across five counties, forced additional evacuations Monday afternoon as Gov. Bill Owens predicted it would reach 100,000 acres by Monday evening.

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By Monday afternoon the fire has consumed 75,889 acres, according to the National Forest Service. There have not been any reports of burned homes but thousands of people could be evacuated Monday if the fire continues to race along its current path.

During an afternoon press conference, Owens asked residents who were ordered to evacuate to do so immediately. Officials asked homeowners not to try to defend themselves or their property.

"The Hayman Fire poses a very real threat to human lives, both to firefighters and to the public. We estimate that the fire today is at 60,000 to 70,000 acres. Yesterday morning it was at 5,000 acres. By this evening it may be 100,000 acres," Owens said. "There's nothing that could be done to stop this fire under current weather and fuel conditions."

Owens also announced the statewide ban of fireworks and open burning, and said because of the continuing fire threat, three state parks -- Roxborough, Mueller Park and Eleven-Mile -- are closed.

Jefferson County Evacuations Ordered

The Jefferson County Sheriff's department ordered a mandatory evacuation at 5:20 p.m., Monday for an area from Highway 285 south on an east-west line to the Jeffco/Park and Jeffco/Douglas County borders. Everyone living from that line south was ordered to leave the area.

Earlier, the Park County Sheriff's Office ordered the evacuations of Lost Acres, Estabrooke, Wellington Lake and Insmont, all south of Bailey. A finger of the fire was reported to have topped Green Mountain, near Stoney Pass, on the Jefferson/Park County line.

Residents in Douglas County, living near Roxborough Park to Perry Park were also advised they might have to evacuate, if the fire continues on its present course. It was 3 miles from the evacuation "trigger point" for Roxborogh Park at which time a mandatory evacuation order would be issued. The fire had reached Rampart Range Road, the Douglas County Sheriff's Office said Monday evening. If it crosses the road, Perry Park will be evacuated.

"In theory, this could include a line of evacuation extending from Chatfield Reservoir on the north to Perry Park on the south, and everything west of U.S. Hwy 85 and Hwy 105," an evacuation advisory said.

Those areas will be evacuated if the fire reaches a pre-determined trigger point. At last report, the fire was about 8 miles away from the trigger point that would evacuate Roxborough, and 2 miles from the trigger point for Perry Park, 7NEWS reported. Even though it is closer to Perry Park, the blaze was moving in the direction of Roxborough at about 2 miles an hour, officials said.

National Forest, BLM Land Closed

The federal government also took the unusual step Monday morning of closing all forest land to recreational use within five counties along the Front Range in light of the Hayman Wildfire raging in four of the counties.

The National Weather Service issued a "Red Flag Warning" for the area, which indicated that gusty winds, low humidity and high temperatures were expected to combine for a tough firefighting effort.

Four air tankers, four planes, and four choppers are providing air support and about 273 firefighters are at the scene. However, firefighters have been pulled off the front lines because it is too dangerous to fight from the ground.

The forest closure order affects Jefferson, Douglas, Park, Teller, and El Paso Counties and prohibits access to the Pike National Forest and BLM land in that area. The federal order means you cannot even drive through the forest area unless you are a resident or land owner.

The reason for the forest closure was to prevent other such disasters, since the cause of the Hayman Fire is believed to be an illegal campfire set on Saturday near Lake George.

The order went into effect at 12 a.m. Monday after the Hayman Fire took a dramatic turn Sunday night, burning quickly toward Deckers and Trumbull, with another finger jumping Highway 126 south of Buffalo Creek. It had already jumped the South Platte River near Custer Cabin and has nearly encircled Cheesman Reservoir.

The perimeter of the fire is about 40 miles long and 9 miles wide at its widest point, according to a Douglas County Sheriff's spokesman.

U.S. Forest Service officials said that the fire split and made a major run Sunday afternoon. It burned around the area that the Schoonover Fire charred several weeks ago, said Barb Timock of the Pueblo Interagency Fire Dispatch. By Sunday night it had jumped Highway 126 about 7 miles south of Buffalo Creek.

Additional firefighters were called in to help with structure protection.

A Type I firefighting team took control of the fire Sunday night.

Current Evacuations

For a list of current evacuated areas, road closures, and recreational closures, click here.

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Fire Movement

The blaze moved to within 44 miles Denver, crossing from Park County into Douglas and Jefferson County in the Pike National Forest.

It was moving rapidly in the north, northeast direction toward the Cheesman Reservoir, the Rocky Mountain Regional Coordination Center said.

One firefighter was injured Sunday afternoon and taken off the front lines, 7NEWS reported. Eight hikers who were trapped when their way out of the forest was burned were rescued after a few frantic attempts, 7NEWS Airtracker Rich Westra said.

Yellowish Smoke Drifts Into Many Suburbs

Smoke from the Hayman fire blanketed the Front Range with a yellowish haze, causing fear and stirring panicked calls to 911 and our 7NEWS newsroom.

Health officials said that the smoke looked worse than it was. It did not raise air pollution levels to the degree that Denver sees during a winter smog alert, but asthmatics and those with breathing problems were advised to stay indoors and to close windows.

Drivers in the area used headlights in the middle of the afternoon since some areas had been limited to 1/4-mile visibility.

The smoke was pushed over the metro area by high winds blowing at 20 to 30 mph. In satellite photographs, the smoke plume can also be seen drifting all the way to the Wyoming border. Some residents in South Dakota also reported seeing the smoke.

Fire Creates Its Own Weather System

The Hayman Fire is so massive that it has created its own weather, 7NEWS Meteorologist Pam Daale said.

Daale explained that when trees burn, they release some of their moisture into the atmosphere in the form of water vapor. With the intense heat of the fire, that moisture rises quickly. When the moisture comes in contact with cooler air in the upper atmosphere, it condenses, forming a thunderhead cloud.

This explains why several viewers from Castle Rock called the station on Sunday to report thunderstorms.

In fact, Colorado thunderstorms form in the exact same way, but instead of fire causing the rising motion, another weather factor is involved, i.e. a cold front.

It takes a special fire to cause something like this to occur, and it's not surprising that such a large fire could cause something of this nature, Daale said. Because of the intense heat and very dry surface conditions, the storm did not produce any rain.