ROUTT COUNTY, Colo. – A new wildfire started Monday north of Hayden, and some homes were being evacuated Monday evening.
According to Shannon Lukens at Steamboat Radio, several people were loading their vehicles up and evacuating the area Monday.
The Steamboat Pilot & Steamboat Today reported that Routt County deputies were telling people along Routt County Road 52 to be ready to evacuate within a 5-mile radius of the road.
According to the paper, the fire has been dubbed the Deep Creek Fire, and grew from 2 acres to 419 acres near Wolf Mountain Ranch after it was discovered around noon Monday.
Another fire, the Big Red Fire, has been burning in the area over the past month.
“We drove on some of the backcountry roads and saw this huge fire. You can see it all the way down the valley and then you could smell the smoke, then saw ashes falling from the sky,” Lukens said. “It’s definitely a big one.”
Lukens said people weren’t waiting to evacuate.
“I have been talking to some people and they said they’re loading up their cars and they’re heading out,” she told Denver7. “It might be a pre-evacuation, but they’re not going to wait. They’re just going to head out of town right now.”
The wildfire sparked as smoke from massive fires in Montana and Oregon made its way across Colorado Monday, creating hazy conditions across the Front Range and Eastern Plains.
