Evacuations ordered for wildfire burning in Clear Creek Co. near Dumont & I-70

Evacuations were ordered on Friday afternoon for a wildfire burning at the Western Inn Trailer Court near Dumont in Clear Creek County. The evacuation orders were issued just before 3 p.m. for the so-called West Empire Fire.

The wildfire is burning between Lawson and Empire on the frontage road north of I-70 in the 2600 block of CR-308.

All residences in that area were ordered to evacuate. An alert notification was sent to those who needed to evacuate.

Westbound US 40- Berthoud Pass from westbound I-70 was closed but US 40 was accessible via eastbound I-70.

What started the fire is being investigated.

Shortly after those evacuations were ordered, Jeffcom911co tweeted that there was another wildfire burning a few miles away, but was unrelated to the fire near Dumont.