The Lee fire, burning in Rio Blanco County near Meeker in northwest Colorado, has eclipsed the 2018 Spring Creek blaze as the fifth-largest wildfire in state history, according to multiple reports.
Ignited by a lightning strike Aug. 2, the Lee fire is currently at 7% containment, incident officials said. It is the state’s largest wildfire since 2020, when the Cameron Peak, East Troublesome and Pine Gulch blazes scorched a combined 541,732 acres.
The Lee fire is southwest of Meeker, while the smaller Elk fire continues to burn east of Meeker. The Lee firegrew to 113,378 acres by Monday morning, according to a social media post by the Rio Blanco County Sheriff’s Office.
The Cameron Peak fire burned for 112 days, officials said. The fire ignited on Aug. 13, 2020, in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest near Cameron Pass and Chambers Lake.
The Larimer County Damage Assessment Teams found 469 structures were impacted by the blaze and only eight of those structures remained intact. A total of 224 of those structures were residential and all but four were destroyed.
Here is a list, subject to change, of the 10 largest wildfires in Colorado history:
The town of Estes Park was evacuated Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020, after the East Troublesome fire blew up overnight. A deep haze of storm clouds and ash from the fire settled over Estes Park, forcing drivers to turn on their lights at 3 p.m.
The Spring Creek Fire, seen here on Tuesday, June 27, 2023, had consumed nearly 3,000 acres of BLM and private land near Parachute, Colorado by Wednesday afternoon.
Smoke fills the sky from the West Fork Fire in South Fork, Colo. on Thursday, June 20. 2013. Colorado Highway 160 through the area has been closed and evacuations ordered of the small town at the bottom of Wolf Creek Pass. (AP Photo/The Pueblo Chieftain, Matt Hildner)