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Entire town of Grand Lake evacuated as East Troublesome fire explodes

Jesse Paul
The Colorado Sun
Authorities direct traffic at U.S. Highways 34 and 40 outside Granby on Wednesday night as the East Troublesome Fire burns in the background.
Photo by Eli Pace / Sky-Hi News

The East Troublesome fire in Grand County exploded east on Wednesday toward Grand Lake, prompting hasty and dramatic evacuations over a broad area and creating a smoke plume so large it was visible on the Front Range.

“We’ve had a lot of activity today,” Incident Commander Jake Winfield during said during a video briefing on Wednesday night.

“The fire is growing faster than we can catch it right now,” Winfield warned.



Winfield said the blaze, burning about 45 minutes north of Winter Park, is “outflanking” fire crews.

The Grand County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday night initially issued an evacuation order for all areas west of U.S. 34 along Grand Lake, a massive area which runs between Granby and Estes Park.



The evacuation area was then expanded at about 8:30 p.m. to include the entire town of Grand Lake, a popular vacation spot and home to about 500 people, and its immediate surroundings. Authorities were hastily working to clear people, as well as first responders, from the blaze’s fast-moving path.

Read more at ColoradoSun.com.

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