By Sarah Cooke
Associated Press

Wildfires forced the evacuations of homes near Canon City and Trinidad on Sunday and burned at least six structures.

Fremont County Sheriff's deputies evacuated at least two subdivisions 12 to 15 miles south of Caon City and residents living along Temple Canyon Road west of the city, sheriff's spokeswoman Samantha McCalla said. Ashes from the fire were dropping on Canon City.

The fire, first reported at 1 p.m., grew to about 2,000 acres by night in south-central Colorado. "The fire is very active at this time," said Barbara Timock of the U.S. Forest Service.

Five air tankers and a helicopter were on scene and three 20-person crews were expected, Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Barb Masinton said. Five structures were destroyed, and the fire continued to move quickly to the north and northeast, she said. It wasn't clear whether the buildings were houses.

The Red Cross opened a shelter at an area school, but evacuees were also streaming into two small towns in bordering Custer County, Masinton said.

The sheriff's office didn't know how many homes were evacuated, but Red Cross spokeswoman Pat Donley said volunteers were told at least 1,000 people could be displaced.

Thick smoke and high winds forced the evacuation of nearby Royal Gorge Park.

"The smoke burns your eyes and chokes you," said Jean Adams, the park's director of merchandise. "I mean, you can feel it in your lungs if you're outside."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved a request from Gov. Bill Owens to pay 75 percent of the firefighting costs, spokesman Ed Conley said.

A fire southeast of Trinidad and near Fisher Peak burned more than 4,200 acres, forcing the evacuation of 11 ranches and destroying at least one home. Las Animas County Undersheriff Jess Gibson said the evacuation of homes in a canyon east of Trinidad was also likely.

Several county roads were closed and some livestock were threatened, Gibson said. The fire in southern Colorado started Saturday night during a lightning storm.

Another fire near Tercio in western Las Animas County torched about 6,000 acres. No one was evacuated but some structures were threatened, Gibson said.

The fire spread Sunday from a 1,000-acre blaze burning in northeast New Mexico, he said.

A third fire that started Sunday night was burning about 2,000 acres in the county's far eastern corner, but no structures were threatened.

Volunteer firefighters were waiting to be relieved by a hot-shot team and a type 2 management crew, Gibson said.

Grass fires that blackened about 3,000 acres on the Pinon Canyon Military Reservation between Trinidad and La Junta were 95 percent contained, Fort Carson spokesman Richard Bridges said. No structures were damaged.

Many areas were reporting record-high temperatures in advance of a cold front that was expected to bring some rain.

Timock said retardant was dropped on a 30-acre fire near Poncha Pass in southwestern Colorado. Several other fires on national forest land in the state were contained.

Fires burning on private land in Cheyenne, El Paso, Pueblo, Lincoln and Las Animas counties also were contained, U.S. Forest Service spokesman Pete Davis said.

In northeastern Colorado, several blazes ignited by lightning Saturday were contained by Sunday. A 12,000-acre fire between Brush in Morgan County and Akron in Washington County was also contained.

No structures were destroyed, but some ranchers had to cut fences to let livestock escape the fires.

June 3, 2002

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