Colorado wildfires: Derby fire expected to push toward Sweetwater Lake

Elliott Wenzler, The Denver Post on Aug 22, 2025

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DENVER — Five wildfires burning on Colorado’s Western Slope — the Lee, Elk, Derby, Stoner Mesa and Crosho fires — have together burned more than 167,000 acres, or about 260 square miles.

The Derby fire is expected to push toward the popular Sweetwater Lake on Friday, while the Lee fire remains five acres away from becoming the fourth-largest wildfire in state history. The fire burning in Rio Blanco County between Meeker and Rifle has held steady at 137,755 acres for several days.

The fires have threatened hundreds of homes, evacuated Colorado communities and prompted state, U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management land closures.

Derby fire in Eagle County

A quick-burning fire north of Sweetwater Lake is 0% contained and is expected to continue pushing south toward the lake today, according to a Friday morning update from fire officials.

The Derby Fire in the White River National Forest was burning 3,569 acres as of 7:50 a.m. The fire, which was sparked by a lightning strike, is about 15 miles northwest of Dotsero.

The fire prompted mandatory evacuations in Eagle County on Tuesday and tripled in size on Wednesday to 2,624 acres. It continued to grow Thursday and Friday morning.

At least one building has been destroyed by the wildfire, according to a Thursday morning briefing from Operations Section Chief Philip Knaub. It’s unclear what type of building it was. Firefighters were able to save other buildings in the area.

The 211 personnel on site are focusing on the southeast side of the fire near Sweetwater Lake.

“Suppression efforts were mostly successful,” Knaub said in a Friday morning update about the previous days’ efforts.

Fire officials anticipate the blaze to continue moving south. The weather looks somewhat favorable for suppression efforts, including possible rain, Knaub said.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued an air quality health advisory for the area due to smoke in western Eagle County and eastern Garfield County.

Lee and Elk fires in Rio Blanco County

The Lee fire burning between Meeker and Rifle, which is burning 137,755 acres, hasn’t grown much in recent days and is at 76% containment.

The Lee fire is the fifth-largest wildfire in Colorado on record, according to the state’s Division of Fire Prevention and Control. It’s also 5 acres away from surpassing the fourth-largest — the Hayman fire, which consumed 137,760 acres in 2002.

The Lee fire started seeing containment jumps Saturday, after rainy weather helped firefighters gain full control of the nearby 14,518-acre Elk fire. That fire is at 100% containment.

The two drought-fueled wildfires together destroyed five homes and 14 outbuildings.

A few rain showers are expected to pass over the fire areas this morning and over the weekend.

Stoner Mesa Fire west of Rico

A wildfire burning in the San Juan National Forest near Dolores grew only slightly overnight to 9,913 acres. It remains at 27% containment, according to a Friday morning briefing.

Several nearby towns, including Rico, were on pre-evacuation notice Friday morning. The edge of Dolores County along County Road 38 to the West Dolores campground was also given pre-evacuation orders, according to the county’s emergency management team. An evacuation map is available online.

The west side of the fire was the most active Friday morning.

Crosho fire, near Yampa

The Crosho fire burned at 2,072 acres between Rio Blanco and Routt counties and was 57% contained as of Friday morning.

Officials decreased the number of structures threatened by the fire to 22 from more than 200 in a Friday morning update.

Fire crews have contained the eastern perimeter of the fire, officials said.

Pre-evacuation orders remain in place for multiple areas around the fire, and county roads in those areas remain closed to non-residents. Mandatory evacuation orders were lifted Monday.

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