Hundreds of homes evacuated near wildfire in Colorado, official says

More than 700 homes were under evacuation orders near Divide, Colorado, due to an out-of-control wildfire, local law enforcement officials said Monday.

The so-called Highland Lake Fire had burned about 90 acres by 7 p.m. Monday and was completely uncontained, Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell told reporters during a news conference.

A local emergency was declared. One structure was destroyed by Monday evening, the county said in a news release.

“You’ll see everyone throwing everything they can at this thing, starting early in the morning,” Mikesell said.

The sheriff’s office asked for assistance from multiple agencies throughout the region as they anticipated strong winds that could help the fire spread during the alarm. Wind speeds are expected to remain around 20 mph overnight and increase to about 50 mph Tuesday, he said.

The county said the evacuation zone included Cedar Mountain north of Golden Bell, Wayward Wind, Snowhill, Aspen Village, Broken Wheel, Alpine View, Beaver Lake Circle, Beaver Lake Place and Star View Trail.

More homes are expected to be evacuated, Mikesell said.

“We’ll do a more detailed assessment tomorrow, but we want to get this fire going very quickly and be very aggressive,” he said.

Hundreds of homes evacuated near wildfire in Colorado, official says originally appeared on abcnews.go.com