U.S. forest lands across the Front Range to close in response to 'unprecedented' fire conditions

U.S. Forest Service lands spanning the Front Range will close at midnight Tuesday in response to “unprecedented and historic fire conditions.”

The temporary closure applies to all national forest land in Clear Creek, Jefferson, Gilpin, Boulder and Larimer counties, according to a Forest Service news release. The closure will be re-evaluated daily.

“The new starts and explosive growth of fires throughout the northern Colorado Front Range over the past week, including the Cameron Peak, CalWood and Lefthand Canyon fires, has led to this decision,” the Forest Service stated in the release. “The impacted counties are currently experiencing severe drought; extremely low fuel moisture conditions; a high occurrence of human-caused wildfires; limited capacity for response due to multiple wildfires; and persistent fire-danger weather conditions with no immediate relief in the forecast.”

Forest Supervisor Monte Williams in the release stated, "These temporary closures are necessary to protect the public and our firefighters, and we will keep them in place until conditions improve and we are confident that the risk of new fire starts has decreased. I ask all of our local residents and visitors to take these closures and evacuations seriously to allow our firefighters to focus on the mission of safely suppressing the existing fires."

As of Tuesday morning, nearly 442,000 acres of land were affected by wildfire across north central Colorado and southern Wyoming, the Forest Service stated in the release, citing data from the Rocky Mountain Coordination Center. 

The CalWood and Lefthand Canyon fires in Boulder County had burned 9,365 acres and 470 acres, respectively, as of Tuesday morning, and the Cameron Peak fire, in Larimer County, the largest wildfire in state history, had burned 205,004 acres.