MESA COUNTY, Colo. — A wildfire that ignited over the weekend in Mesa County has grown to 213 acres and is now 10% contained, according to fire officials who were responding to the second major fire burning in Colorado’s Western Slope Monday.
The Kings Canyon Fire was reported at around 2:27 p.m. Sunday near the Kings Canyon area of Black Ridge approximately 15 miles southwest of Fruita, officials with the Upper Colorado River Interagency Fire Management Unit said in a Facebook post.
By Monday, the blaze had been mapped out at 213 acres and “steep inaccessible terrain has made suppression efforts difficult,” they wrote in the most recent post.
Fire officials said smoke would be visible for the next few days as resources further strengthen containment lines and additional resources arrive to help battle the fire.
A Type 3 helicopter, a large airtanker (LAT), four single-engine airtankers (SEATs), multiple engines and a Type 2 hand crew were currently on scene fighting the fire.
The fire is currently burning on Bureau of Land Management land, officials said.
One of several wildfires burning in Colorado's Western Slope
Evacuations were ordered for portions of San Miguel County in southwestern Colorado Monday due to another wildfire, this one burning south of Norwood,but have since been rescinded, as firefighters are close to reaching full containment of that fire.
The fire was reported by the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office at around 12:40 p.m. burning approximately two miles south of Norwood on County Road V44W.
Information about what caused the fire was not immediately available.
Other fires reported in the area were the Currant Creek Fire, burning near Cedaredge, which was grown to 183 acres in size and is 10% contained; as well as three prescribed burns happening in southwestern Colorado, according to Inciweb.
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