Colorado East Troublesome Fire Grows To 170,000 Acres, Forces Evacuations Across Towns

The residents in the town of Estes Park in Colorado are facing a mandatory evacuation order after the East Troublesome fire grew to 170,163 acres Thursday. This comes after the entire town of Grand Lake was forced to evacuate after the fire burned over 150,000 acres Wednesday.

Fueled by dry, windy conditions, the East Troublesome Fire crossed the Continental Divide and burned into the Rocky Mountain National Park on Thursday afternoon, prompting its closure. There are increased concerns that the East Troublesome Fire, located near Grimes Peak in the Arapaho National Forest, might now merge with the Cameron Peak fire, the state's largest wildfire, which is burning just 10 miles away.

The Cameron Peak Fire is about 55% contained whereas the East Troublesome Fire is reportedly only at 5% containment as of Thursday.

"The East Troublesome Fire officials have ordered Mandatory evacuations for Estes Park with the following boundaries: north border of Fall River Road, south border of Highway 36, west border of Elm Road, and the east border of Wonderview," the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Grand County Sheriff Brett Schroetlin said the overwhelming surge of the East Troublesome Fire caused the "worst of the worst" case scenario.

"We planned for the worst. This was the worst of the worst of the worst," Schroetlin said in the news conference, according to CBS Denver.

Schroetlin said the town of Granby in Grand County was placed on a pre-evacuation order, adding that sheriff’s deputies were going door to door asking people to leave. He said an undetermined number of people in the area have lost their homes to the East Troublesome Fire.

Westbound U.S. Highway 36 was closed between Lyons and Estes Park due to the fire, while the evacuating traffic was being navigated through the eastbound Highway 36, CBS-owned KCNC-TV reported.

Fire crews are working to protect structures along Highway 125. The devastating fire moved mostly to the northeast, but also started moving south, according to the station.

"The fire is growing faster than we can catch it right now," Fire Incident Commander Jake Winfield told the station.