A 125-acre fire that ignited Wednesday afternoon a few hundred feet north of the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site prompted evacuations for rural residents in the area.

Las Animas County Emergency Manager Darren Kolakowski confirmed to The Gazette that evacuations are for residents along Bear Springs Road and County Road 78.9. Evacuated residents and large animals can go to a shelter at the county’s fairgrounds.

Nearly a dozen fire agencies have responded to the blaze, including departments from Trinidad, Rocky Ford and La Junta. Kolakowski said they are coordinating with military officials within the maneuver site as they assist in the response.

The Hoehne Fire Protection District is the lead agency combating the fire, which has been dubbed the Bear fire.

Several residents have been left without power west of the fire toward U.S. 350 in a “planned” outage hours after the fire began, according to the San Isabel Electric Association.

Red flag warnings were in effect from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday in western Las Animas County, a few miles from the fire.

A spokesperson with the National Weather Service told The Gazette those dry, windy conditions are expected to continue in the region through Friday, despite cooler temperatures.

Training operations on the Army’s 235,000-acre site near where the fire began were planned to conclude at the end of May, according to previous Gazette reporting. Fort Carson and other service members use the area northeast of Trinidad.

Other fires in Colorado

The Bear fire was one of several to burn across southeast Colorado on Wednesday.

Firefighters in Prowers County contained a 512-acre fire that broke out late Tuesday night, according to federal fire dispatch data.

In Colorado Springs, a small grass fire ignited around 250 feet off of South Academy Boulevard near the east side of the Valley Hi Golf Course, according to CSFD.

Elsewhere in Colorado, a fire of less than 5 acres that closed Interstate 70 for several hours near Glenwood Springs was fully contained Wednesday afternoon.