DURANGO, Colo. -- Crews battling a 26,700-acre wildfire hoped an aggressive air attack Monday would prevent the fast-moving blaze from engulfing homes.

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Fueled by wind gusts of up to 30 mph, the Missionary Ridge fire, north of Durango, grew by about 6,000 acres on Sunday, prompting interagency managers to designate it the No. 1 firefighting priority in the state, fire information officer Mary Bell Lunsford said.

Crews were concerned that conditions were ripe Monday for added movement.

Approximately 755 homes and business north of Vallecito Dam were evacuated as a precaution on Monday morning. This is in addition to the 1,300 who were evacuated last week.

About 1,650 homes are threatened, officials said.

"This weather and the fuels out there are not helping at all. We are expecting high temperatures again today and low relative humidity and that just makes for extreme fire danger," Lunsford said.

The Missionary Ridge Fire took top priority from the Hayman Fire, which has blackened nearly 103,000 acres and destroyed 25 homes in the Pike National Forest.

Although the Hayman Fire is still burning, the Missionary Ridge Fire is now more volatile and least contained, officials said.

Lunsford said fire managers in Durango planned to launch five slurry bombers and several helicopters to battle the blaze.

One house and one historic cabin were destroyed, and fire managers were trying to determine whether others had burned.

More than 800 firefighters battled the blaze, about 10 miles north of Durango in the San Juan National Forest. More crews were expected to arrive Monday. The fire was about 25 percent contained.

The fire, started on June 9, from a discarded cigarette or ash, officials said. It was started beside Missionary Ridge Road.

Damage estimates so far have reached $3.2 million.

The fire's quick advancement Thursday night forced residents in 100 homes to be evacuated.

No new evacuations have been ordered.

A Red Cross shelter has been set up at Bayfield High School.