Watch CBS News

Colorado Expands Health Advisory As Wildfire Smoke Spreads

DENVER (AP) — Smoke from large wildfires in other Western states has prompted Colorado officials to expand a health advisory to the northern half of their state.

The heavily populated Denver-Fort Collins corridor was included in the advisory Friday, along with cities ranging from Grand Junction near the state's western border to Julesberg in the northeast corner.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment cautioned people with respiratory or heart problems to stay indoors if smoke is heavy.

Sunset
CBS4's Lauren Whitney shows a photo of the sunset on Thursday night, taken by YouReporter Michael Smith (credit: CBS)
Haze
CBS4's Ed Greene shows a YouReport photo taken on Thursday (credit: CBS)

The National Weather Service warned that wildfire danger was high in the northwest corner of the state Friday because of gusty winds, low humidity and dry vegetation.

Crews were monitoring two small lightning-caused wildfires, one in the San Juan National Forest in southwestern Colorado near Dolores and another near Capulin in southern Colorado.

(© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.