Colorado Wildfires Update: 96,742 Acres Burned By West Fork Complex Fire, 4 Percent Contained

By Sunday, firefighters managed to contain 4 percent of southern Colorado's West Fork Complex fire which has grown to 96,742 acres.

Bobby Kitchens, a fire information officer with the Type 1 Incident Management Team, told the DenverPost.com that the immediate goal has not been to contain the fire but to protect homes and people, as the fire torched large swaths of beetle-killed trees in remote, rugged areas in and near the San Juan and Rio Grande national forests.

"We're concentrating on protecting the highest values, and we're meeting that objective. Containment isn't a good measure on this fire," said Kitchens.

The complex is a combination of the West Fork, Papoose and Windy Pass fires. No structures have been lost, and there have been no injuries or fatalities since the fires were started by lightning strikes on June 5. However, hundreds of people were evacuated from South Fork last week as the fire moved to the small mountain town.

On Friday, Rio Grande County Sheriff Brian Norton announced that the evacuation orders have been lifted, however he warned that residents in South Fork must be prepared to leave at a moment's notice reports Fox 31 Denver. An evacuation center at Del Norte High School is also expected to close on Monday.

Colorado highway officials reopened U.S. 160 over Wolf Creek Pass on Saturday, but warned that they could close it again if the West Fork Fire complex threatens the highway, notes CBS affiliate KREX-TV. Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration installed a portable tower at the Durango Airport to handle the volume of aircraft flying in the area trying to contain the fires.