A wildfire that broke out only a week ago in Colorado has dramatically increased in size, making it the fourth-largest in Colorado’s history. The fire has also forced hundreds of residents from Grand Lake to evacuate their homes.
Grand Lake, Colorado
The East Troublesome Fire, which grew at a rate of nearly 10,000 acres per hour on Wednesday night, has since forced the entire city of Grand Lake to evacuate their homes. The growth occurred due to strong winds as well as low humidity in the area. In addition, this weather will continue throughout the day with gusts reaching up to 45 mph.
The town is located in the Rockies, some 30 miles northwest of Boulder, and has an elevation of over 8,000 feet. According to tweets, there are buildings in the town that have already caught fire. Rescues had to be made due to the speed of the fire and the sudden evacuation.
Rocky Mountain National Park has also closed the west side of its park.
Due to its rapid growth, firefighters cannot keep up with the flames, lowering the containment from 10 percent to only five percent. The East Troublesome Fire grew from around 30 square miles to nearly 200 square miles during a ten-hour period. Furthermore, this ranks the blaze as the fourth-worst fire in Colorado’s history. Unfortunately, the top two worst fires have also happened this year, with the Cameron Peak Fire continuing to burn.
Helpful Words During Hard Times
Moreover, the Grand County Sheriff’s Office posted a somber video of Sheriff Brett Schroetlin at Grand Lake early this morning on Facebook.
“Many times, when I choose to speak with you, I have a message,” said Schroetlin. “Tonight, I’m not even sure what those words are. Today has been an extremely, extremely challenging day for our community… The winds were strong. The fire behavior was strong. It was a challenging day… I don’t know what we will see in the morning, to be honest. But you know what? Together as a community, we are going to get through this. Your incredible first responders today- police, fire, EMS, search and rescue- hit this north part of this county so hard. They made some incredible rescues, some incredible evacuations, and they worked here for you.”
Schroetlin continued saying, “Secondly, our community really came together today. Our community is grand. We are, without a doubt. And we are going to get through this together…Daylight is going to tell us a lot. Thank you.”
[H/T The Weather Channel]
