Colorado, fire and Western Slope
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KTVX Salt Lake City on MSNDeer Creek Fire exceeds 15,000 acres, community meeting tonightThe Deer Creek Fire on the Utah and Colorado has now exceeded 15,000 acres as a community meeting is scheduled for Saturday evening. Firefighters continue to get a handle on the fire, which is at 15,892 acres and is 17% contained as of 9 a.
The fire that sparked in southeastern Utah last week and crossed into southwestern Colorado this week has damaged over a dozen structures, and now fire officials believe winds will push that fire deeper into Colorado.
The fire-induced tornado developed within the Deer Creek Fire just after 1 p.m. MT on Saturday, July 12, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). The "firenado," which was given an EF-2 rating, lasted for about 12 minutes. Tornados ranked as an EF-2 are deemed "significant" and exhibit a wind speed of 111-136 miles per hour.
The Deer Creek fire that started near Old La Sal July 10 grew to 14,760 acres on Tuesday, July 15 and remained at 7% containment.
A massive fire vortex was seen forming at the Deer Creek Fire close to Utah's border with Colorado.
Firefighters made progress on the north and east sides of the Deer Creek Fire on Thursday thanks to cloud cover and cooler temperatures, according to the Friday update from InciWeb. The fire, now in its eighth day, has burned 15,819 acres and stands at 11% contained.
At just over 12,900 acres, the fire is bigger than all the other western slope fires combined and is one of several fires that prompted Colorado Gov. Jared Polis to issue a disaster declaration on Sunday.
A rapidly growing and still-uncontained fire that's already destroyed five buildings in eastern Utah is fast approaching the state line with Colorado.
The nearly 13,000-acre wildfire burning in eastern Utah crossed the Colorado border Monday night, joining four other fires already burning on the Western Slope, fire officials said.