There are currently two fires ablaze across Colorado: the Pine Gulch fire and the Grizzly Creek fire.
According to the Fox21 News in Colorado, the Pine Gulch fire was mapped at over 73,381 acres as of Friday morning, after it was sparked by a lightning strike on July 31. The fire remains 7 percent contained.
On Wednesday, the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center reported that the Pine Gulch fire’s growth made it one of the top five largest wildfires in Colorado in the past decade.
In addition to the Pine Gulch fire, the Grizzly Creek fire is also ablaze, and as of Friday morning, it spanned across over 14,000 acres, according to the Grizzly Creek fire Facebook page.
“The terrain and fuels in the northeast portion of the fire made access difficult for firefighters north of Interstate 70. The fire pushed East and went into Bair Ranch where evacuations were made,” officials said in a Facebook post Friday morning.
Photos and videos posted across social media show maps of the fire and the damage it has caused across Colorado.
“#GrizzlyCreekFire mapping shows major growth on the east/southeast side of the fire. Getting closer to the Garfield/Eagle County lines,” Twitter user Christine Rapp of Fox31 News in Denver wrote in a post with a map of the fire.
“#PineGulchFire New update has it at 73,381 acres and 7% contained. This is now the 4th largest individual fire in Colorado history,” Rapp wrote in a subsequent tweet, showing a map of the Pine Gulch fire.
WeatherNation posted a video showing firefighters trying to slow the spread of the fire.
“Stunning photography captures crews working on hotspots of the #PineGulchFire in Colorado. Almost 70,000 acres have burned since the fire began last week, making it one of the top 10 largest fires ever in Colorado history,” it wrote as a caption to the video.
The National Weather Service in Boulder, Colorado, also posted several maps of the fire.
“3.9 imagery showing “3” significant hot spots associated with fires burning early this morning across Colorado,” NWS Boulder wrote in a tweet.
In addition to the two large fires in Pine Gulch and Grizzly Creek, there is a third fire, in Cameron Peak, which has grown to 1,540 acres, according to the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center.
On Thursday, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Regional Air Quality Council issued an Ozone Action Day alert, due to the smoke caused by the fires.
“Due to wildfire smoke transported into the Front Range, Ozone and Fine Particulate concentrations could both reach the Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups category at times through Friday evening across the Colorado Front Range region,” the department wrote in a statement. “This Multiple Pollutants Action Day Alert will remain in effect until at least 4 p.m. Friday, August 14, 2020.”
Newsweek reached out to the Colorado Emergency Operations Center for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.