Photo courtesy of @LGraceYoung
A citizen briefing will be held Sunday at 9:45 a.m. at the Cache La Poudre Middle School in Laporte.
Evacuation notices were sent to 474 phone numbers in the areas south and west of Bellevue, including the Lory State Park area, Redstone Canyon and Buckhorn Road to the Stove Prairie School.
Residents in that evacuation area are being asked to evacuate to the McKee building on the The Ranch property at I-25 and Crossroads Boulevard.
Earlier Sunday morning, residents from County Road 27E to Bellvue were notified that they were being evacuated.
At last official report, the High Park Fire was estimated at 8,000 acres but Larimer County Sheriff's Office spokesman Nick Christensen believes the fire has grown significantly overnight.
Late Saturday night 177 notifications were sent for Poudre Canyon from mile marker 111 to mile marker 118 on Highway 14. The Poudre Canyon from Ted's Place to Stove Prairie Road is under a mandatory evacuation order.
Larimer County sent out more than 1,600 emergency notifications Saturday.
At least 18 structures have been lost or damaged and others are threatened.
"I've been with the agency for 21 years," Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith said. "This is probably the fire we were always concerned we might possibly have."
Saturday night evacuations were ordered for CR44H three miles south to just north of Stringtown Gulch Road, the entire Rist Canyon area, CR27E to Stove Prairie and south to Davis Ranch Rd and Whale Rock Rd.
"I am just very concerned with some of the reports that we got," Smith said. "Some people felt fairly confident there have been people trapped back there. I understand some people fled, it was hard to verify. I can tell you it certainly disturbs me with some of the reports that I heard."
The following areas were also evacuated Saturday afternoon: Moose Horn Lane, Magic Lane and Spencer Mountain Road, Paradise Park Road and Stove Prairie Road, north to Rist Canyon Road, east to Spring Valley Road and south to include the Tip Top Road area.
Large animals from evacuation areas may be taken to the Ranch at I-25 and Crossroads Blvd. Small animals and pets can be taken to the Larimer Humane Society.
According to Larimer County officials, the fire rapidly grew due to high winds.
An evacuation center was set up at Cache La Poudre Middle School at 3515 West County Road 54G in Laporte. American Red Cross is responding to the Cache LaPoudre School Gymnasium to open an evacuation center in Larimer County.
The High Park Fire was first spotted at around 6 a.m. Saturday.
Crews had to hike through difficult terrain to first reach the area.
Old Flowers Road is being evacuated from Stove Prairie Road to the 8000 block of Old Flowers. Rist Canyon Road (residents allowed) and Stove Prairie Road are closed.
The cause of the fire is unknown at this time.
The fire appears to be on both private and US Forest Service land.
The Larimer County High Park Fire information line is 970-498-5500.
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