Winds, Beetle Kill Continue To Fuel Beaver Creek Fire Estimated At 7,000 Acres

WALDEN, Colo. (CBS4) - Erratic winds on Wednesday continued to fuel a forest fire burning in Northern Colorado.

The Beaver Creek Fire has been burning two miles south of the Colorado-Wyoming state line since about noon on Sunday. The fire is now established on Independence Mountain in Routt National Forest and has burned approximately 7,000 acres.

PHOTO GALLERY: Beaver Creek Fire

The fire continues to move northeast toward the Wyoming state line.

Crews worked to protect structures overnight into Wednesday morning and will continue with structure protection. The fire is burning in heavy timber and fueled by beetle kill trees.

"It started in heavy timber and it was burning through live and dead trees, which has made it the fire that it is," National Forest spokesperson Aaron Voos said. "Resources are changing by the minute, hourly, we do have a lot of resources that are on order that are coming in."

Water drops continue using multiple helicopters as well as an additional Type 1 helicopter expected to arrive on Wednesday. Bulldozers will continue to build a fireline.

There are road closures on Independence Mountain. Mandatory evacuations were ordered on Tuesday for the Twisty Park and Pearl areas.

Visitors to the area said the fire came as a surprise.

"We saw smoke and my wife said, 'I'm thinking that's where we wanted to camp.' And sure enough there's fire there," camper Chuck Daton said. "Makes me sad and upset … because we were up here two weeks ago and we were almost to the campground and it was all just beautiful and pristine."

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