With the Lee Fire already the fifth-largest wildfire in Colorado history, dozens of Garfield and Rio Blanco County residents gathered Monday night at Colorado Mountain College in Rifle for an informational meeting with fire officials and local leaders. 

Since sparking from a lightning strike on Aug. 2, the Lee Fire scorched 116,859 acres — a perimeter of over 170 miles — and was 6% contained by Tuesday morning, according to an update from the Elk and Lee Fire Information Facebook page. 

The blaze surpassed the 108,045-acre Spring Creek Fire of 2018 on Sunday, making it the fifth-largest in Colorado’s history. The nearby Elk Fire burned 14,549 acres and was 30% contained as of Tuesday. Currently, more than 1,000 firefighting personnel are on the ground combatting the two fires. 

Nine speakers addressed the crowd in Rifle during the community meeting Monday, including representatives from National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologists, Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team 3 (CIMT 3), Garfield County officials and U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd. Officials shared updates on fire behavior, evacuation zones, containment strategies and weather forecasts.

“Just be assured that it’s a very cohesive joint operation and we’re trying to do everything we can to put this fire out,” Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario told the crowd Monday. “The one thing I will tell you, and I’ve said this before, when you get frustrated, when you get scared, when you get angry, please remember: we did not start the fire, we’re just trying to put it out for you all. Hang in there, we’ll get it done. It’s not the first fire we’ve had in Garfield County and it won’t be the last.”

NWS Incident Meteorologist Rose Schoenfeld said the region’s extreme drought created ideal conditions for the Lee and Elk Fires’ rapid spread. Over the past 30 days, she said, the area has received only 5% of its normal precipitation. 

“So, when dry lightning struck and then we saw numerous straight days of hot, dry, and windy weather, that really allowed this fire to both ignite and then spread to the size that it is now,” she said.

Using a seven-day outlook created by NWS Lead Meteorologist Bruno Rodriguez, Schoenfeld highlighted predicted high temperatures, humidity levels, wind direction, speeds and gusts, cloud cover, mixing height and lighting strike probability to predict the burn environment for the Lee and Elk fires through Monday, Aug. 18. Critical fire conditions are forecasted to continue through Thursday, with a slight improvement expected heading into the weekend. 

Kevin Thompson, fire behavior analyst with Rocky Mountain CIMT 3, explained that drought conditions have pushed some vegetation into a dormant state. 

“We’re seeing our brush and live trees and stuff near dormant conditions, meaning they’re going into the winter. That usually doesn’t happen in August,” Thompson said. “With the dry weather that Rose talked about, with the dry fuels that we’ve had, that’s led to these large runs, or large growth, of the fire over the past week. Some of those have gone up to 30,000 acres — to put that into reference, that would be 7 miles by 7 miles in one day.”

Fire officials said the southern portion of the Lee Fire remains the most active and continues to exhibit extreme fire behavior, according to the Tuesday update. On Monday, the Bureau of Land Management closed select lands near the Lee Fire that are managed by the BLM White River Field Office in Rio Blanco County.

Crews are focusing efforts on reinforcing containment lines south of County Road 5 and west of Highway 13. Teams are also constructing indirect fire lines east of the Hogback Ridge in case the fire spreads east of U.S. Highway 13, according to the Tuesday update.

Meanwhile, evacuations and road closures remain in effect. As of Tuesday morning, eight zones in Rio Blanco County and one in Garfield County — Zone 70 — were under red-level evacuation status. Three more zones in Garfield County had been moved to yellow, and two remained green. Highway 13 closed in both directions at mile marker 4, just north of Rifle, around noon Saturday due to the fires, however, local traffic is still permitted through the closed area. County Road 5 is also closed. 

Residents in red zones — “Go” — were ordered to evacuate immediately, while those in yellow — “Set” — should prepare for a short-notice evacuation and leave the area if they need additional time to evacuate. Green status — “Ready” — indicates residents should monitor wildfire conditions and prepare for potential evacuation. Visit the interactive evacuation map at tinyurl.com/nxmx65hj.

All 179 individuals incarcerated at the Rifle Correctional Center were evacuated and transferred to the Buena Vista Correctional Complex Saturday night due to the Lee Fire.

On Sunday, the Garfield Re-2 School District announced that the beginning of the 2025-26 school year would be delayed because of disrupted communication and poor air quality caused by the Lee and Elk fires. School was canceled on Monday and Tuesday, but officials said they will reopen school doors on Wednesday. 

Hurd, who attended the meeting Monday, acknowledged the fires’ toll on the region’s agriculture, oil, gas and electric sectors and pledged federal support. 

“I’m committed to working with our state and local and federal partners on this to make sure that Colorado gets the support and resources that it needs. Period,” Hurd said. “I think it was (Sheriff Vallario) who said, ‘We help neighbors.’ Neighbors helping neighbors — that’s just the Western Colorado way.” 

Watch the full meeting recording at facebook.com/elkleefire/videos/1302504487919550.

For the latest Elk and Lee fire updates, visit facebook.com/elkleefire, inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-information/cowrd-lee-fire and inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-information/cowrd-elk-rbx-fire.

Register for alerts in Garfield County at garco911.com and follow facebook.com/garcosheriff, facebook.com/GarCo911/ and facebook.com/RioBlancoCountySheriffsOffice.

This story is from PostIndependent.com.