COLORADO — Gov. Jared Polis is scheduled to give an update on wildfires and the state's response to COVID-19 Tuesday afternoon.
There are four large Colorado wildfires that continued to grow over the weekend and officials offered a dose of reality: The burning may not stop anytime soon.
The largest of the wildfires, the Pine Gulch Fire, north of Grand Junction, has been growing for more than two weeks and was at more than 85,000 acres Monday. The Cameron Peak Fire in Larimer County grew to more than 13,000 acres over the weekend, and officials said they weren't expecting widespread rain in the next 1-2 weeks.
All four wildfires are facing a similar combination of factors, making them ripe for growth and difficult to fight: Colorado's ongoing drought conditions; steep and rugged terrain where the fires are burning; natural fire fuels, such as pine beetle; and a forecast that includes the possibility of dry thunderstorms — bringing more lightning — and offers little chance of rain.
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