Fire Watch

Mission Road Fire now at 3K+ acres

Posted: Jul 24, 2012 9:45 PM by Tara Grimes - MTN News

The Mission Road Fire north of Wolf Creek has now grown to 3,150 acres and is about 15% contained.

Crews were called to the fire 15 miles north of Wolf Creek early Sunday evening.

On Monday the flames spread to 1,200 acres; after a cold front moved through early Monday evening, the fire grew even larger.

Eight homes and six other buildings are threatened.

More than 160 firefighters and personnel from the Forest Service and DNRC are helping battle the flames.

DNRC spokesman John Grassy noted, "This is steep terrain, it's rocky terrain, and with high winds you can get a lot of erratic fire behavior as it gets pushed in and out of some of these little coulees and ridges."

Grassy said because of the high winds and dangerous conditions, they're mostly attacking the fire from the air with two air tankers and two helicopters.

Officials said they believe lightning caused the fire.