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Congress Should Fix Our Forests Before the Next Red Flag Warning
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Congress Should Fix Our Forests Before the Next Red Flag Warning

By Hunter Rivera | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice I still remember the orange sky over Loveland in October 2020: ash on windshields, headlights at noon, and a horizon rimmed with flame. The Cameron Peak Fire burned more than 200,000 acres across the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Rocky Mountain National Park, destroying hundreds of structures and forcing thousands to evacuate. The same month, the East Troublesome Fire exploded across Grand County, jumping the Continental Divide and claiming lives. Those weren’t abstract “Western wildfire” headlines. They were in Northern Colorado’s front yard. If you want to remember what megafire really means, drive Highway 14 toward Cameron Pass. Mile after mile, blackened trunks still stand like matchsticks where forest...
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Xcel Power Shutoffs Leave Colorado Small Businesses Facing Major Losses
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Xcel Power Shutoffs Leave Colorado Small Businesses Facing Major Losses

By Sage Kelley | The Denver Gazette Restaurants west of Denver are still coming to grips with product losses and future revenue concerns after power shutoffs last week by Xcel Energy due to high winds. “It’s like living in a third-world country,” Brandon Bortles, owner of Nosu Ramen and Abejas Bistro in Golden, said Tuesday. “We’re all behind the eight ball. I want to know, are we going to do this 10 times a year? What are we going to do in the future? Just shut down the town every day?” Xcel Energy turned off the power multiple times to at least 48,000 customers amid severe winds and extreme wildfire danger between Wednesday and Friday. As many as 160,000 customers were without power at some point, officials said. The initial shutoff occurred Wednesday morning ...
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Colorado congress members ask Trump for disaster declaration over Rio Blanco County wildfires
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Fox31, Approved, State

Colorado congress members ask Trump for disaster declaration over Rio Blanco County wildfires

By Jacob Factor | Fox 31 DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado’s congressional delegation is asking President Donald Trump to declare a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for the wildfires that struck Rio Blanco County over the summer. The lawmakers in a joint letter to the president asked him to make the disaster declaration and open federal assistance for Western Slope County after the Lee and Elk fires burned more than 150,000 acres and caused more than $27 million in damages.5 charged with starting wildfire while Lee, Elk and Crosho Fires burned nearby “Successful recovery is essential to restoring the County’s economy, which depends on oil and gas, agriculture, outdoor recreation, and hunting and fishing,” the lawmakers said in the letter. “Without additional support, resid...
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Xcel reaches $640M agreement to resolve all Marshall fire claims
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denvergazette.com, Approved, Local

Xcel reaches $640M agreement to resolve all Marshall fire claims

By Michael Braithwaite | The Denver Gazette Xcel Energy reached an agreement in principle to settle all claims relating to the 2021 Marshall fire, the organization said in a statement Wednesday. The organization will pay north of $640 million to resolve all the pending litigation, about $350 million of which will be funded by its remaining insurance coverage, Xcel said. Individual agreements will still remain subject to final documentation and deliberation with individual plaintiffs. The December 2021 fire destroyed more than 1,000 businesses and homes in Louisville, Superior, and unincorporated Boulder County, taking two lives and forcing 37,000 people to evacuate. Despite the agreement, Xcel said its equipment did not cause or contribute to the fire and it does not admit any ...
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Same week, same county, different response: Inside the Elk and Lee fires
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Local, Top Stories

Same week, same county, different response: Inside the Elk and Lee fires

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Flames boiled the pond on Mike Clark’s ranch, scorched irrigated fields and melted fiberglass fence posts in minutes. On August 6, the Lee Fire came so fast friends were calling with warnings as his family scrambled to clear trees and pump water toward the house.  Just miles away on the Elk Fire side, air tankers and ground crews had been dropping water since early morning. Mike Clark is no stranger to high stakes. A fourth-generation Coloradan and CEO of Petrox Resources, he built his life and business in the same place he raised his children. For decades, Clark has run Petrox while also working the family’s ranch, a property he moved to more than 30 years ago for its open spaces, agricultural roots and the chance to raise his kids in a...
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Colorado Fires Show Mixed Progress Elk Fire Contained Lee Fire Still Raging
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State, Approved, Post Independent

Colorado Fires Show Mixed Progress Elk Fire Contained Lee Fire Still Raging

By Taylor Cramer | The Post Independent The Elk Fire is now fully contained as crews continue to make progress on the much larger Lee Fire, which has burned 137,465 acres and is 42% contained as of Sunday. The Lee Fire is now just shy of the Hayman Fire, which burned 137,760 acres in 2002 near Colorado Spring and ranks as the fourth-largest wildfire in Colorado history. Both the Lee and Elk fires were started by lightning on Aug. 2. Combined, 1,155 personnel remain assigned to the fires, supported by six aircraft, 25 hand crews, 78 engines and 46 pieces of heavy equipment. The Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team 3 is nearing the end of its 14-day assignment. The Northern Rockies Complex Incident Management Team 1 has been mobilized to assume command Monday. The inco...
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Wildfire Relief Effort Scales Up Across Western Colorado
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kdvr.com, Approved, Local

Wildfire Relief Effort Scales Up Across Western Colorado

By Heather Willard | KDVR Fox 31 DENVER (KDVR) — Hundreds of thousands of acres in Colorado have been scorched from wildland fires raging on the Western Slope, and officials are sharing how you could help. The Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management shared resources on social media on Wednesday, as did the city of Craig on Tuesday. “Thank you to all who have offered resources and support- we are profoundly grateful,” the Colorado agency said on X. “You can help those impacted by the Lee and Elk wildfires by donating to the Yampa Valley Disaster Recovery Fund; tax-deductible donations are being accepted for disaster relief and recovery efforts.” You can donate here to the Yampa Valley Disaster Recovery Fund. You can also sign up to volunteer or&...
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Over 100K Acres Burn As Lee Fire Ranks Among State’s Worst
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State, Approved, The Gazette

Over 100K Acres Burn As Lee Fire Ranks Among State’s Worst

By: Jonathan Ingraham | The Gazette The Lee fire southwest of Meeker, Colorado in Rio Blanco County has become the sixth largest wildfire in Colorado history, eclipsing the 2012 High Park fire, which burned 87,284 acres west of Fort Collins. The fire grew from over 88,000 acres to over 92,000 acres throughout the day on Saturday, with no containment, state fire officials said. By Sunday morning, the fire had burned 106,672 acres, however, some progress had been made and the fire was at 6% containment, according to state fire officials and federal fire maps.  A map published by the Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team on Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025 shows the growth of the Lee and Elk Fires near Meeker, Colorado. Credit: Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team, Facebook Mand...
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Meeker self-evacuates as Elk and Lee fires surge past 75,000 acres
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denvergazette.com, Approved, Local

Meeker self-evacuates as Elk and Lee fires surge past 75,000 acres

By Michael Braithwaite | Denver Gazette The town of Meeker has been self-evacuated as the nearby Elk and Lee fires surpassed 75,000 combined acres Thursday. Both started by lightning earlier this week, the twin fires have drastically grown in size over the past several days. On Tuesday, the Lee Fire was estimated to be 7,750 acres and the Elk Fire at 13,025, according to a Facebook post from the Rio Blanco County Sheriff's Office. Just four days later, the Lee Fire has grown to nearly 61,000 acres and the Elk Fire to 14,236, the office said. Officials have attributed the significant growth to the fire's interior being filled in, though crews have not yet reached any containment on either fire. The blazes' growth has threatened both the town of Meeker and the Highway 64 cor...
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Wildfires Force New Evacuations Across Rio Blanco and Garfield Counties
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Approved, kdvr.com, State

Wildfires Force New Evacuations Across Rio Blanco and Garfield Counties

By  Spencer Kristensen | KDVR Fox 31 DENVER (KDVR) — As crews continue to battle wildfires across the state, more evacuations and pre-evacuations have been ordered due to several fires growing in size. Multiple agencies in different jurisdictions around Colorado ordered a new round of evacuations and pre-evacuations on Wednesday afternoon. Rio Blanco County: Lee and Elk Fires There are two large wildfires in Rio Blanco County that have burned more than 30,000 acres. Evacuations have already been sent for certain areas in the county, and the Rio Blanco Sheriff’s Office continued with more evacuations and pre-evacuations on Wednesday. Zone 40 Zone 40 is located southwest of Meeker and just east of Lion Canyon. The area contains a stretch of Highway 13. Immediate e...
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