
Airn Hartwig loads a chicken into a cardboard box as she evacuates due to the threat from the Cameron Peak Fire in Masonville, Colorado, on Wednesday.
The blaze has burned through more than 158,000 acres and is 56% contained, officials said. It was ignited on August 13 and has since been fueled by high winds and dangerous terrain that's worked against firefighters' efforts to battle the flames and increase containment.
It has now surpassed the Pine Gulch Fire, which burned about 139,007 acres earlier this year and the Hayman Fire, which burned through more than 138,000 acres in 2002, according to the US Department of Agriculture.The Cameron Peak Fire also prompted several evacuation orders Wednesday. In a statement posted on Facebook, the Larimer County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday announced there was a mandatory evacuation order for Lory State Park.
Comment: Think 2020's disasters are wild? Worse is yet to come say experts