950 acre wildfire prompts evacuations in Larimer County

Mandatory evacuations are in place in Northern Colorado near the mouth of Big Thompson Canyon in Larimer County due to an approximately 950 acre wildfire named the Alexander Mountain Fire. As of 7:45 p.m. on Monday there was no containment on the fire. So far there's no report of any injuries.

The area in question is about 20 miles west of Loveland , and thick smoke was clearly visible Monday afternoon from as far as Fort Collins and Boulder.

Incident commander Justin Whitesell, the emergency operations director for the Larimer County Sheriff's Office, said in the afternoon that the evacuation operation is his team's "primary focus."

"Our focus is on getting people out of the way of the fire, making sure that they are safe," Whitesell said. "Then we're preparing for the fire to come to structures -- if it does. So we're prepping for that and planning for it."

The mandatory evacuation zone at 3:30 p.m. included areas to the north and south of Highway 34 through Big Thompson Canyon -- from the town of Drake to the Dam Store west of Loveland's city limits. The northern area stretches west to an area north of but not including Glen Haven and the southern area includes Pinewood Reservoir but not Carter Lake. County Road 18 east from Pole Hill to Pinewood Reservoir is in the evacuation area.

Carter Lake is one of the areas where there are voluntary evacuations. The full description of the voluntary evacuation areas is as follows:

- Waltonia Road
- Eden Valley to Sunrise Ranch
- Sylvan Dale to Ellis Ranch

"On all four sides of the fire we've built a big box of evacuations," Whitesell said.

People were being asked to avoid the area of Highway 34, which was closed in both directions.

An overnight evacuation center was set up at Foundations Church 1380 Denver Avenue in Loveland by the American Red Cross. Namaqua Elementary School, which had been set up for evacuees during the day, closed before daybreak. The Estes Park Events Complex (in Estes Park), at 1125 Rooftop Way is also open overnight for evacuees. The evacuation location for animals is The Ranch, at 5290 Arena Circle (in Loveland).

The fire is burning on U.S. Forest Service land and the agency called in several aircraft to work on the fire. For some water drops, water was collected from nearby Horsetooth Reservoir. As a result of the ongoing operations, Horsetooth Reservoir will be closed to all recreation until further notice.

Ground crews from the U.S. Forest Service and Loveland Fire Rescue were among the firefighters who responded to the fire. There was no immediate word on what caused the fire.

Linda Renaud, who lives near Storm Mountain, is within the mandatory evacuation zone and ended up having to leave.

"We can see the fire from the top of our hill -- we can see the smoke. It doesn't appear to be that close to us but it's hard to judge," she said before the order was made.

Renaud had to evacuate for the Cameron Peak Fire in 2020, she said she was prepared for a quick exit.

"Don't have everything all gathered, but I'm about to throw a few things in a suitcase and put the pets in the car," she said. "We've got some friends that can probably put us up."

A map of the evacuation zone can be seen here:

For live updates from the county, you can text LCEVAC to 888777.

CBS News also has an interactive wildfire map that shows wildfires across the U.S. You can find that here .