"DENVER - Stoked by high winds, a wildfire burning for two months in northern Colorado exploded in size this week to surpass 167,000 acres, making it the largest blaze in state history, officials said on Thursday.

The so-called Cameron Peak Fire in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests has forced the evacuations of several mountain communities and campgrounds and has destroyed an unknown number of homes and other buildings, according to an interagency fire-tracking website.

The blaze erupted in mid-August and has raged through large stands of desiccated lodgepole pine trees killed by beetle infestation in mountainous terrain and through tinder-dry grasslands at lower elevations, fire managers said."

Keith Coffman reports for Reuters October 15, 2020. [2]