New evacuation orders after "significant growth" overnight on Colorado wildfire near Leadville

Authorities overseeing the firefight against the week-old Willow Fire west of Leadville, Colorado, issued new evacuation and pre-evacuation orders Sunday morning after the blaze grew by nearly 1,000 acres in 24 hours. 

The new evacuation order includes Halfmoon Road, which provides access to popular camping areas and the trailhead to Mount Massive, the second highest peak in the state. 

Saturday morning, fire crews were working to establish Halfmoon Road as a potential line to stop the fire's southward movement. That plan included deliberate controlled burns and aircraft slurry drops. 

Nick Castro, one of the Southwest Area Complex Incident Management Team's operations chiefs at the helm of the Willow Fire effort, said Saturday morning the team planned to utilize the terrain's natural features to steer the southern side of the fire into higher elevations where less fuel exists. 

But by Sunday morning, that hope was dashed. Halfmoon Road is now under mandatory evacuation, as is the Lake Fork Trailer Park. 

Lake County Sheriff Heath Speckman announced on social media that the fire grew about 900 acres overnight. Additional warnings were issued to areas farther south and southeast of the fire, including the northern side of Twin Lakes and the eastern stretch of State Highway 82 from Independence Pass. 

The new pre-evacuation zones border Chaffee County. 

New shelters for evacuees were established at Buena Vista Public Safety Complex and Battle Mountain High School. 

The Leadville Regional Airport has been closed to air traffic unrelated to the firefight or other emergency operations.

Friday morning, before the latest advancement of fire to the south, Castro called the entire southern boundary an "area of concern." Fire crews were measuring "historic dryness right now" and "record-setting (low) fuel moistures."

The Willow Fire ignited June 28 in the Twin Mounds area between Mount Massive and Leadville. The blaze now measures 3,957 acres, with only 1% of its circumference secured with fireline. Its size Saturday morning was 2,969 acres. The cause of the fire is so far undetermined.