‘Very large, unpredictable’ Colorado fire grows

A sprawling wildfire in northern Colorado grew larger than the nearby city of Fort Collins on Monday, racing across a crackling dry landscape at up to 40 feet a second, spitting flames up to 300 feet into the air and forcing thousands out of their homes.

The Red Cross, Humane Society and other aid groups mobilized to help evacuees while at least 400 firefighters, aided by air tankers and helicopters from as far away as Canada battled the fire about 15 miles west of Fort Collins.

“Yesterday when the winds had shifted to northerly winds we could see this massive, most amazing smoke cloud that looked almost like a volcanic eruption,” said Grant Campbell, a Laporte, Colorado resident who is staying in his home despite an evacuation order issued Sunday.

“It really is beautiful in a kind of surrealistic way, but you also have to remember that it puts people and their homes in danger,” he said.

The smoke cloud is so large that iReporter David J. Thrush watched a dramatic sunset through the cloud 40 miles away in Eaton, Colorado.

“It was an eerie scene,” he said. “The sunset was a blazing ball of red, almost apocalyptic, through the smoke.”

The fire nearly doubled in size overnight to 36,930 acres, or more than 57 square miles, Larimer County Sheriff’s Office Executive Officer Nick Christensen said Monday. It had been estimated at 20,000 acres Sunday night.

The rapid growth made the fire larger than Fort Collins, which is 47 square miles.