Homes evacuated as firefighters battle Colorado wildfire

[June 06, 2018]  (Reuters) - Hundreds more people prepared to evacuate their homes on Wednesday as a largely unchecked wildfire raged in southwest Colorado and officials warned that blazes could spread to other states.

Emergency crews said they had only managed to contain 10 percent of the fire near the towns of Durango and Hermosa, where the forecast was for another dry, hot day.

Around 600 firefighters tackled the flames which were first spotted on Friday and spread to cover 3,000 acres (1,200 hectares).

The 416 Fire - named, local media said, after its official incident number - burned over steep terrain sending smoke billowing into the sky.

People have already fled 825 homes, and La Plata County issued pre-evacuation notices for another 252 residences on Tuesday.

"The 416 Fire continues to test the resolve of firefighters," the U.S. Forest Service said.

Crews would build defensible spaces around structures and help residents remove flammable material from around their homes on Wednesday, the service added.

The National Weather Service has placed large sections of the Four Corners region of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah under an elevated fire risk.

Isolated thunderstorms on Wednesday may bring some relief to the area that is experiencing above-average temperatures, it said.

About 250 miles (400 km) to the southeast, the 1,110 residents of Cimarron, New Mexico, were allowed back into their homes after showers on Sunday helped quell part of a separate blaze.

By Wednesday morning, authorities said nearly 600 firefighters managed to carve containment lines around 30 percent of that wildfire - the Ute Park Fire, which has burned 36,664 acres of drought-parched grassland and timber since Thursday.

Cimarron, a frontier-style town, lies about 140 miles (225 km) northeast of Albuquerque, New Mexico's largest city.

The nearby Santa Fe National Forest was closed to the public indefinitely on Friday in a rare measure prompted by the heightened fire risk from prolonged drought.

So far, there have been no reports of injuries or major damage to structures from either fire.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas and Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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