Waldo Canyon fire reaches 'epic proportions' (+video)

Asked how quickly the fire was spreading after the latest flare-up on Tuesday afternoon, incident commander Rich Harvey said, "If I gave acreage right now, it would be wrong in five minutes. It's growing."

Hickenlooper said he was consulting with Pentagon officials. The Air Force Academy issued a statement saying the military was preparing to dispatch up to 25 more helicopters to join the firefighting effort.

Authorities earlier said that half of the fleet of eight Air Force C-130 cargo planes equipped as air tankers were already at work, dropping flame-retardant chemicals over the blaze. More than 1,000 firefighters are now battling the blaze.

DEATH IN UTAH
Still, the Waldo Canyon Fire, burning primarily within the Pike National Forest on the western fringe of Colorado City, was dwarfed in size by wildfires elsewhere across the state, and by a fatal blaze that flared with renewed intensity in Utah.

Authorities said on Tuesday a body was found in the ashes the fast-moving Wood Hollow Fire about 100 miles (161 km) south of Salt Lake City, marking the first fatality in a blaze that has scorched over 39,000 acres (15,780 hectares) of rolling hills covered by parched cheat grass and sagebrush.

Flames fanned by high winds into a second county forced the closure of Utah's state Route 89 for a second time and prompted the evacuation of the entire town of Fairview, a community of more than 1,200 residents according to the latest census, state emergency managers said.

The blaze already has leveled an estimated 30 homes and killed 75 sheep, authorities said.

The Wood Hollow Fire is believed to be one of just two western wildfires that have claimed lives in recent weeks.

The other is the High Park Fire near Fort Collins, Colorado, north of Denver, which now ranks as that state's second-largest blaze on record and its most destructive ever, having consumed 87,250 acres (35,308 hectares) in steep mountain canyons since it was sparked by lightning two weeks ago.

The High Park has destroyed 248 homes and killed a 62-year-old grandmother, whose body was found in the ashes of her cabin, while leaving an estimated 4,300 residents displaced by evacuations.

Colorado accounts for several of the 29 large active wildfires being fought across the country on Tuesday. The bulk of them were in seven western states -- Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Arizona and California, the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, reported.

Although federal authorities say the fire season got off to an early start in parts of the northern Rockies, the number of fires and acreage burned nationwide is still below the 10-year average for this time of year, according to fire agency records. (Additional reporting by Ellen Miller in Grand Junction, Jennifer Dobner in Salt Lake City and Laura Zuckerman in Salmon, Idaho. Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Lisa Shumaker and David Brunnstrom)

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