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Couple Watches Smoke Plume, Hopes For The Best As Cameron Peak Fire Grows Substantially

(CBS4) - The Cameron Peak Fire flared back up Saturday and burned more buildings.

"It was black everywhere, you couldn't see that mountain right there literally," Greg Deschner said.

Deschner and his wife, Sara Beth live in Glacier View Meadows, and they have spent nearly a season living under a cloud of smoke.

"We figure we can see about 20 miles from here so if it gets close enough we can definitely head out," Deschner explained.

The fire grew about 12,000 more acres Saturday. The latest update from Cameron Peak Fire Management on Monday is that it has burned 124,049 acres and is 21% contained. There were several confirmed structures damaged along Manhattan Road but incident management said it's not yet safe for the crews to access that area. Homeowners will be notified as soon as possible.

"We had really high sustained winds with gusts of up to 65 miles an hour," Lindsey Lewis, Cameron Peak Fire Public Information Fire said.

As winds whipped Saturday, residents like the Deschners were unsure if they had to pack up their things and evacuate.

"All of the trees were pretty much wiped out, I believe it was 12 years ago when a fire came through," Sara Beth said.

Not much appears to have grown back, that's why the Deschners hope they'll be okay. Living in fire country, they always know to be prepared.

"We hope it doesn't happen every year but we love it up here, we're staying forever," Greg added.

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