Rapidly spreading wildfires choke Colo., N.M.

Last Updated 12:16 p.m. ET

(CBS/AP) Authorities are ramping up the fight against large wildfires burning out of control in northern Colorado and southern New Mexico.

A wildfire burning in a mountainous area about 15 miles west of Fort Collins has nearly doubled to 58 square miles, forcing hundreds of evacuations and destroying at least 18 structures.

The Larimer County Sheriff's Office said Monday that 400 people are now fighting the blaze. The U.S. Forest Service says a federal team will take over management of the fire on Monday.

Ten air tankers, half of them large aircraft, were at a fire burning on nearly 60 square miles in a mountainous area about 15 miles west of Fort Collins on Monday. One person is unaccounted for the fire.

One firefighter was treated for minor injuries and released.

Meanwhile, strong winds grounded aircraft fighting a 40-square-mile wildfire near the mountain community of Ruidoso in southern New Mexico. Crews were working to build a fire line around the blaze, which started Friday and has damaged or destroyed 36 structures.

It wasn't immediately clear how many of the structures lost were homes. "We're still trying to take a tally," Kerry Gladden, public information officer for Ruidoso, said late Sunday afternoon.

Dan Ware, a spokesman for the New Mexico State Forestry Division, said the number of Ruidoso evacuees was in the hundreds, but he didn't have an exact figure.

Karen Takai, a spokeswoman for the Ruidoso fire crews, said smoke is heavily impacting the community of Capitan, about 5 miles to the northeast. She said Capitan and others could also face evacuation.

"Any communities around this fire have the potential of being evacuated," she said. "If I lived in Capitan, I definitely would be prepared. Don't wait until the sheriff's office comes knocking at your door and tells you to evacuate."

Active Fire Mapping Program (USDA Forest Service)

Both fires were dwarfed by the Whitewater-Baldy blaze in southwest New Mexico -- the largest in the state's history -- that has charred 450 square miles of wilderness forest since mid-May. But the smaller blazes were especially concerning because they started much closer to more populated areas.

Elsewhere Sunday, firefighters were battling a wildfire that blackened 6 square miles in Wyoming's Guernsey State Park and forced the evacuation of between 500 and 1,000 campers and visitors. Cooler weather was helping firefighters in their battle against two other wildfires in southern Utah.

Colorado

The High Park Fire has proven to be a tough adversary for firefighters. It has burned more than 20,000 acres and is spreading rapidly. Up to 2,600 people have been evacuated.

About 500 people had checked in at Red Cross shelters.

Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith said there was an unconfirmed report of a person unaccounted for, but he wouldn't elaborate.

Eight air tankers -- including two from Canada -- and several helicopters were on the scene to help fight the blaze, while hundreds of firefighters are on the ground.

"The unfortunate part is we've got dozens of engines up there but we've got hundreds of homes," said Sheriff Smith. "And as you get into some of those areas, we can't afford to get firefighters trapped in some of those far back areas."

Authorities say they're competing for resources that have been diluted by several wildfires burning across the West.

"Resources are thin right now," said Nick Christensen of the Larimer County Sheriff's Office. "We are trying to get more of everything at this point."

Meanwhile, the speed at which the fire has spread has dashed any hopes of containment for the time being.

Sheriff Smith said the fire is creating its own weather - pushing and pulling the winds in every direction.

"We don't have a fire going in one direction that we can work with; we got it going multiple directions, so we have no containment goals at this time, merely get people out of the way," Sheriff Smith said.

Smoke is spreading over parts of Colorado and more than 100 miles north into Wyoming - and 200 miles east all the way into Nebraska, Barry Petersen told "CBS This Morning."

Dangerous Colo. wildfire burns, threatens homes
Hundreds evacuated as Colo., N.M. wildfires grow

Officials say the dry conditions might force the state to ban fireworks this Fourth of July. "The conditions this summer give every indication that we're going to be at risk all summer long," said Gov. John Hickenlooper.

Authorities say it's the worst fire seen in Larimer County in about 25 years. It spread as fast as 1 1/2 miles an hour Saturday, skipping over some areas but burning intensely in trees in others. Flames were coming dangerously close to deputies who were telling some residents to evacuate, Smith said.

Kathie Walter and her husband helped friends several miles away evacuate from the Colorado fire on Saturday. When they got home, they were surprised to get a call warning them to be ready to evacuate just in case. But Walter didn't want to wait.

"Smoke was coming in hard. We could not see flames or orange or black smoke. But we didn't need to see anymore. We just said 'Hey, let's get out of here,'" she said.

They evacuated with their five cats and two dogs. They had a head start. After a wildfire in the area last year, they had left two suitcases packed in their garage.

Elaine Mantle and her family got a call to evacuate their Bellvue home at 5:45 a.m. Sunday. It took about 30 minutes for them to get out and reach a spillover shelter at the Budweiser Event Center in Loveland. Evacuees gathered there for a fire briefing, sipping coffee and eating bananas and powdered doughnuts, in a large gymnasium-like space.

It was the Mantles' first evacuation in the 25 years that they have lived in the mountains, and they were grateful to be safe.

"We're all here, we're all OK. Our neighbors are all here. We feel good," Mantle said.

The blaze also forced the evacuation of 11 wolves from a sanctuary near the fire. KUSA-TV in Denver reported that 19 wolves remained behind at the sanctuary, which has underground concrete bunkers known as "fire dens" that can be used by the animals.

The fire is the latest to hit Colorado's drought-stricken Front Range. In May, a fire set by a camper's stove charred 12 square miles in the same Poudre Canyon area. In March, a fire sparked by a prescribed burn 25 miles southwest of Denver killed three people and damaged or destroyed more than two dozen homes.

New Mexico

The weather is once again making things difficult for crews trying to tame the Little Bear Fire. However, even with the whipping winds, firefighters are making some gains in some areas, reports CBS Affiliate KRQE.

It may not seem like much has changed in the last 24 hours in Ruidoso, but there have been no new evacuations and there is word that the fire is moving toward an area where it might be easier to fight.

The eastern part of the fire is a couple of miles from the Sierra Blanca Airport, heading toward Fort Stanton and south of Capitan.

Crews think they can make gains there because the terrain goes from steep and tree covered to falter and grassy.

"We've got engines, dozers and hand crews out there ... all of them working on building, constructing fire line," Joel Arnwine of Southwest Emergency Management Service told KRQE.

That's where crews are focusing a lot of their efforts Sunday.

Another priority is putting out hotspots in some of the mountain subdivisions the fire has already spread through. Fire managers estimate at least 36 structures have been damaged or destroyed.

Between the smoke and the blazes volatility, the fire managers say it is not safe enough to send firefighters in to get a more accurate idea of the damage.

"We haven't had the opportunity to go in and determine if those are houses, primary residences, garages, barns, out buildings, said Arnwine. "That will take place in the next five to seven days."

That has people who had to leave their homes behind waiting and wondering.

Video from Ski Apache, just outside Ruidoso, shows smoke from the Little Bear Fire pouring into the ski area.

Crews there have been using snow blowers to blow artificial snow in an effort to wet down the area just in case the flames make it there.

Utah

Firefighters say they've got a southern Utah wildfire near Greenwich 75 percent contained, and say it should be fully under control Tuesday.

Crews say they made significant progress fighting the Box Creek Fire Sunday, and it stands at about 2,000 acres Monday. It's about five miles northwest of Greenwich.

Summer homes and cabins have been evacuated, and roads and trails in the area have been closed.

The Box Creek Fire began in mid-May as a prescribed burn in Fishlake National Forest by the U.S. Forest Service, but high winds caused it to grow last week.

More than 400 people are participating in the firefighting effort.

Wyoming

Authorities are telling people in a community in southeast Wyoming to be ready to evacuate in case a large wildfire spreads in their direction.

They're telling the 70 people who live in Hartville on the east side of Guernsey State Park to be ready to leave in an hour's notice.

A wildfire has burned over six square miles of the park since Saturday. Hundreds of campers had to evacuate and the park remains closed.

Wyoming State Forester Bill Crapser said Monday one structure has burned and the fire is 20 percent contained. Crapser says for a time Sunday the wildfire was threatening Guernsey, a town of about 1,000 people southeast of the state park.

Another wildfire that has burned 13 square miles northwest of Wheatland is now almost fully contained.