(CNN) Massive wildfires in California, Colorado and New Mexico have torched thousands of acres and forced hundreds to evacuate their homes.

By Sunday, the Ute Park Fire in New Mexico had grown to more than 31,000 acres, according to the US Forest Service spokeswoman Judith Dyess.

Since it broke out Thursday, the fire has forced 2,200 people in the area to evacuate their homes, Dyess told CNN. The small community of Ute Park, with a population of about 70, was evacuated overnight.

Officials are hopeful that rain in Sunday's forecast will give firefighters battling the blaze a short reprieve.

"We anticipate getting pretty severe thunderstorms this afternoon," Dyess said, but added that there won't be enough rain to significantly change long-term prospects for the fire.

Read More</s>Wildfires in New Mexico and Colorado have consumed nearly 32,000 acres of land (Reuters)</s>Massive wildfires in California, Colorado and New Mexico have torched thousands of acres and forced hundreds to evacuate their homes.

By Sunday, the Ute Park Fire in New Mexico had grown to more than 31,000 acres, according to the US Forest Service spokeswoman Judith Dyess.

Since it broke out Thursday, the fire has forced 2,200 people in the area to evacuate their homes, Dyess told CNN. The small community of Ute Park, with a population of about 70, was evacuated overnight.

Officials are hopeful that rain in Sunday’s forecast will give firefighters battling the blaze a short reprieve.

“We anticipate getting pretty severe thunderstorms this afternoon,” Dyess said, but added that there won’t be enough rain to significantly change long-term prospects for the fire.

On Saturday, the US Forest Service said more than 500 personnel were fighting the blaze.

Jim Smith told CNN Saturday he noticed the fire on a hill above his home in the nearby village of Eagle Nest. At the time, he thought it was a small trash fire.

“It’s been so dry here that once a fire starts in our part of the country, it expands rapidly,” he said.

“By the time I got home, in about 15 minutes, it was covering probably four square blocks. And half an hour later, almost a square mile.”

Smith and his family voluntarily evacuated, he said. It’ll be another day or so before they’ll feel safe returning home, he said.

So far, about 14 outbuildings have been destroyed at the Philmont Scout Ranch, according to the US Forest Service. The ranch, which belongs to the Boy Scouts of America, had already been evacuated by the time the fire closed in on it.

A blaze known as the 416 Fire in Colorado’s La Plata County had grown to 2,250 acres and was 10% contained on Sunday, according to authorities.

Like officials in New Mexico, Colorado’s firefighters were looking for help from two storms forecast for the area, according to Vickie Russo with the US Forest Service.

Russo said authorities were in discussions to reopen US 550, a major traffic artery between Silverton and Durango, Colorado. The highway had been shut down while firefighters worked to prevent the 416 Fire — burning on the west side of the highway — from crossing to the east.

But since then, Russo said, businesses and residents in Durango have had trouble getting their hands on supplies. The highway may be opened to traffic with law enforcement escorts, Russo said.

Thousands of residents in the area remained evacuated Sunday.

By Friday evening, the blaze had prompted La Plata County Manager Joanne Spina to declare a state of local disaster.

US Forest Service spokesman Jim Mackensen told CNN on Saturday that 1,500 residents had been forced to evacuate.

A vegetation fire in Laguna Beach, California, about 50 miles south of Los Angeles, has torched about 250 acres. More than 400 firefighters are fighting the blaze, according to the Orange County Fire Authority. There was 0% containment as of Saturday night.

No injuries or damaged structures have been reported in the blaze, dubbed the Aliso Fire, but about 2,000 Laguna Beach residents had been evacuated by Saturday.

Some of the mandatory evacuations were lifted Saturday night, but they remained in effect for the Top of the World neighborhood, according to the Orange County Fire Authority.</s>(CNN) – Massive wildfires in Colorado and New Mexico have torched thousands of acres and forced hundreds to evacuate their homes.

A blaze known as the 416 Fire in Colorado’s La Plata County has burned 1,100 acres, US Forest Service spokesman Jim Mackensen told CNN on Saturday.

The fire, about 15 miles outside the town of Durango, is 0% contained and has forced the evacuations of 1,500 residents, Mackensen said. No structures have been destroyed, he added.</s>(Reuters) - Wildfires stoked by low humidity and high temperatures raged in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado on Saturday, threatening nearly 1,900 homes and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents from remote communities, fire officials said.

The two fires, about 250 miles (400 km) apart in the drought-parched Four Corners region of the Southwestern United States, have consumed nearly 32,000 acres (12,000 hectares)between them, officials said.

The larger of the two, the so-called Ute Park Fire in Colfax County, New Mexico, was zero percent contained after scorching some 30,000 acres by Saturday evening near Cimarron, a town of about 1,100 people northeast of Santa Fe, according to a bulletin on the New Mexico Fire Information website.

About 300 structures were threatened in Cimarron, where officials issued a mandatory evacuation on Friday. The town lies just northeast of the Santa Fe National Forest, which was indefinitely closed to the public on Friday in a rare measure prompted by the heightened fire risk from prolonged drought.

About a dozen outbuildings went up in flames on an adjacent ranch, fire officials said. But showers were expected to bring some relief to firefighters on Sunday, though lightning strikes and erratic winds from thunderstorms could also worsen the situation.

"The Village of Cimarron is STILL safe," village councilor Laura Gonzales said on Facebook. "Continue to pray for our community."

The cause of the fire, which began on Thursday and has been burning through grassland and pine forest, is not known.

A second wildfire started on Friday about 10 miles north of Durango, Colorado, raging across nearly 2,000 acres and forcing the evacuation of about 1,500 people near the southern border of the San Juan National Forest, the U.S. Forest Service said.

Officials of La Plata County, Colorado, said they opened evacuation centers after ordering residents out of about 825 homes and issuing pre-evacuation notices for residents of another 760 homes.

The Forest Service said the intensity of the Colorado wildfire, known as the 416 Fire, had slightly diminished by Saturday morning and that firefighters were focused on protecting neighborhoods and infrastructure as they managed to carve containment lines around 10 percent of the blaze.</s>(CNN) — Massive wildfires in California, Colorado and New Mexico have torched thousands of acres and forced hundreds to evacuate their homes.

A vegetation fire in Laguna Beach, California, about 50 miles south of Los Angeles has torched about 250 acres and is being fought by over 400 firefighters, according to the Orange County Fire Authority. There was 0% containment as of Saturday night.

No injuries or damaged structures have been reported in the fire that’s been dubbed the Aliso Fire, but evacuations are underway in the Top of the World neighborhoods in Laguna Beach. By Saturday, about 2,000 Laguna Beach residents had been evacuated.

Some of the mandatory evacuations were lifted Saturday night, but mandatory evacuations remained in effect for the Top of the World neighborhood, according to the Orange County Fire Authority.

A blaze known as the 416 Fire in Colorado’s La Plata County has burned 1,100 acres, US Forest Service spokesman Jim Mackensen told CNN on Saturday.

The fire, about 15 miles outside the town of Durango, is 0% contained and has forced the evacuations of 1,500 residents, Mackensen said. No structures have been destroyed, he added.

By Friday evening, the blaze had prompted La Plata County Manager Joanne Spina to declare a state of local disaster.

Grass, brush and timber continued to fuel the fire on Saturday morning.

The fire broke out on the west side of US 550, according to a Forest Service update posted on InciWeb, a government-operated multiagency fire response site. That highway is closed as firefighters work to prevent the fire from crossing it.

About 825 homes were under mandatory evacuation orders Saturday, and another 760 were under a pre-evacuation notice. Residents were told to be ready to leave if necessary.

Temperatures in the area were still high, Mackensen said, adding the forecast for Sunday shows a 50% chance of thunderstorms. It should help, he said, but “being that they are thunderstorms, they could cause another fire.”

And a massive fire in Colfax County, New Mexico, had grown to 27,290 acres by Saturday morning and was 0% contained, according to InciWeb. Nearly 450 personnel were battling that fire.

A mandatory evacuation order was in place for the town of Cimarron, where 296 structures were threatened by the blaze, called the Ute Park Fire, InciWeb said.

Jim Smith told CNN he noticed the fire on a hill above his home in the nearby village of Eagle Nest. At the time, he thought it was a small trash fire.

“It’s been so dry here that once a fire starts in our part of the country, it expands rapidly,” he said.

“By the time I got home, in about 15 minutes, it was covering probably four square blocks. And half an hour later, almost a square mile.”

Smith and his family voluntarily evacuated, he said. It’ll be another day or so before they’ll feel safe returning home, he said.

So far, about 14 outbuildings have been destroyed at the Philmont Scout Ranch, according to the US Forest Service. The ranch, which belongs to the Boy Scouts of America, had already been evacuated by the time the fire closed in on it.

Forest Service spokeswoman Judith Dyess told CNN on Saturday morning that the fire was roughly 3 miles from Cimarron and burning in that direction. High winds, which could exacerbate the blaze, are forecast for Saturday, she said.</s>While the largest wildfire in California was just declared contained, both Colorado and Mexico have been hit with massive blazes causing hundreds to evacuate.

The 416 Fire - as the one in Colorado is referred to - has scorched 1,974 acres and has only been 10 percent contained, according to the La Plata County Government on Facebook.

U.S. Highway 550 was closed as a result from mile marker 35.5 and 43.5.

The 416 Fire was first reported around 10.02am just 10 miles north of Durango, Colorado, and to the west of the highway.

At least 20 air resources were dispatched to fight the flames, 'including single engine and heavy tankers and type 1 and 2 helicopters, 14 engines, 4 hotshot crews, multiple Type 2 initial attack crews, and a water tender.'

In addition, 200 personnel have also been put out to respond to the fire.

More than 1500 residents were advised to evacuate the area.

Roughly 825 residences were under mandatory evacuation orders on Saturday while another 760 were under a pre-evacuation notice.

The Forest Service said the intensity of the Colorado wildfire, known as the 416 Fire, had slightly diminished by Saturday morning and that firefighters were focused on protecting neighborhoods and infrastructure.

Two evacuation centers have been opened for residents to check in, which will be vital to returning to the area when the fire subsides.

The blaze in New Mexico - called the Ute Park Fire in Colfax County - destroyed about a dozen empty buildings on the Boy Scouts' storied Philmont Ranch and threatened nearly 300 homes, officials say.

Almost 30,000 acres were said to have been burned so far in the blaze.

The flames were first reported Thursday and ballooned quickly in a part of New Mexico hardest hit by a severe drought gripping the American Southwest.

'The Village of Cimarron is STILL safe,' village councilor Laura Gonzales said on Facebook. 'Continue to pray for our community.'

More than 60 per cent of the U.S. West is experiencing some level of drought, the latest federal drought maps show, forcing national forests and other public lands to close because of escalating fire danger.

The area where Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado meet is at the center of a large patch of exceptional drought.

Dry, windy and warm weather was expected to make conditions worse as the New Mexico fire burned on state and private land, including part of the Boy Scouts' ranch, state forestry spokeswoman Wendy Mason said.

Estimates put the blaze at more than 25 square miles (66 square kilometers). Its cause isn't known.

Officials say no scouts were at the ranch and all staff members were accounted for. Employees who live in the nearby community of Cimarron were allowed to leave to care for their families.

Authorities ordered residents in Cimarron and surrounding areas to evacuate Friday as the smoke drifted east.

At the historic St. James Hotel in Cimarron, the phone went unanswered after the popular tourist destination had emptied out along with the rest of the town.

The U.S. Postal Service also evacuated post offices in Cimarron and the smaller community of Ute Park, telling residents they would have to travel about 25 miles (40 kilometers) away to get their mail.

Officials were concerned about air quality. Evacuation centers were set up in nearby towns as residents shared information on social media about where to take refuge and where animals and livestock could be left.

Forecasters said the towering plume of smoke had reached about 20,000 feet (6,100 meters).

A top-tier incident management team was being assigned to the Ute Park Fire, which had crossed a highway and forced its closure. Other roads also were closed.

Crews used several air tankers and a few helicopters to fight the flames from above.

In western New Mexico, gusty winds fanned a wildfire that has burned 38 square miles of forest, blowing embers past containment lines and starting spot fires.

Officials said about one-third of the fire was contained as of Friday, but firefighters faced the challenge of having to both stop the growth of the main fire while patrolling for spot fires. That human-caused fire started May 22 and is east of Reserve on the Gila National Forest.</s>(Reuters) - Wildfires stoked by low humidity and high temperatures raged on Saturday in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, threatening nearly 1,900 homes and forcing hundreds of residents to evacuate remote communities, fire officials said.

The fires, about 250 miles apart, have consumed more than 17,000 acres between them, officials said.

The larger of the two, the so-called Ute Park Fire in Colfax County, New Mexico, was zero percent contained after it doubled in size to more than 16,000 acres on Friday near Cimarron, a town of about 1,100 people northeast of Santa Fe, according to an alert on the New Mexico Fire Information Website.

About 300 homes were threatened in Cimarron, where officials issued a mandatory evacuation on Friday.

“The Village of Cimarron is STILL safe,” Cimarron Village Councilor Laura Gonzales said on Facebook. “Continue to pray for our community.”

The cause of the fire, which began on Thursday, was unknown.

A second wildfire started on Friday about 10 miles north of Durango, Colorado, raging across 1,100 acres and forcing the evacuation of residents of about 500 homes near the southern border of the San Juan National Forest, the U.S. Forest Service said.

Officials of La Plata County, Colorado, said they opened evacuation centers after ordering residents out of about 825 homes and issuing pre-evacuation notices for residents of another 760 homes.

The Forest Service said the wildfire, known as 416 Fire, had cooled slightly by Saturday morning and that firefighters were focused on protecting neighborhoods and infrastructure.</s>Massive wildfires in Colorado and New Mexico have torched thousands of acres and forced hundreds to evacuate their homes.

A blaze known as the 416 Fire in Colorado’s La Plata County has burned 1,100 acres, US Forest Service spokesman Jim Mackensen told CNN on Saturday.

The fire, about 15 miles outside the town of Durango, is 0% contained and has forced the evacuations of 1,500 residents, Mackensen said. No structures have been destroyed, he added.

By Friday evening, the blaze had prompted La Plata County Manager Joanne Spina to declare a state of local disaster.

On Saturday morning, grass, brush and timber continued to fuel the fire.

Temperatures in the area were still high, Mackensen said, adding the forecast for Sunday shows a 50% chance of thunderstorms. It should help, he said, but “being that they are thunderstorms, they could cause another fire.”

And a massive fire in Colfax County, New Mexico, had grown to 27,290 acres by Saturday morning and was 0% contained, according to InciWeb, a US government-operated multiagency fire response site. Nearly 450 personnel were battling that fire.

A mandatory evacuation order was in place for the town of Cimarron, where 296 structures were threatened by the blaze, called the Ute Park Fire, according to an update on InciWeb.

So far, about 14 outbuildings have been destroyed at the Philmont Scout Ranch, according to the US Forest Service. The ranch, which belongs to the Boy Scouts of America, had already been evacuated by the time the fire closed in on it.

Forest Service spokeswoman Judith Dyess told CNN on Saturday morning that the fire was roughly 3 miles from Cimarron and burning in that direction. High winds, which could exacerbate the blaze, are forecast for Saturday, she said.</s>Washington, June 3 (IANS) Massive wildfires in the US states of California, Colorado and New Mexico have torched thousands of acres and forced hundreds to evacuate their homes, the media reported.

A vegetation fire in Laguna Beach, California, about 50 miles south of Los Angeles, has torched about 250 acres. More than 400 firefighters were fighting the blaze, according to the Orange County Fire Authority.

There was zero percent containment as of Saturday night, reports CNN.

No injuries or damaged structures have been reported in the blaze, dubbed the Aliso Fire, but evacuations are underway in Laguna Beach neighbourhoods, where about 2,000 residents had been evacuated by Saturday.

A blaze known as the 416 Fire in Colorado’s La Plata county has burned 1,100 acres, US Forest Service spokesman Jim Mackensen told CNN on Saturday.

The fire, about 15 miles outside the town of Durango, was also zero per cent contained and has forced the evacuations of 1,500 residents, Mackensen said. No structures have been destroyed.

Grass, brush and timber continued to fuel the fire Saturday morning.

A massive fire in Colfax county, New Mexico, grew to 30,000 acres by Saturday night, according to the US Forest Service.

More than 500 personnel were battling the fire.

A mandatory evacuation order was in place for the town of Cimarron, where 296 structures were threatened by the blaze, called the Ute Park Fire.
Wildfires in the American states of California, Colorado and New Mexico now burn 31,000 acres (13,000 ha) of land, causing thousands to evacuate their homes.