Three wildfires start in windy Yuma County on Colorado's Eastern Plains

Wildfires broke out overnight on Colorado's Eastern Plains in Yuma County. They started in extremely windy conditions and evacuations were put in place.

One of the fires started just before 9 p.m. Wednesday -- when wind gusts of at least 70 mph were recorded -- and it has burned more than 12,000 acres near County Road 33. It originally was thought to be about 40,000.

The Yuma County Sheriff's Office said people who had to evacuate could shelter at Yuma High School, Grassroots in Joes and the Wray EMS barn. Later on, those shelters were closed as firefighters got a better handle on the fires.

Two of the three fires had been contained by daybreak on Thursday. Those burned 2,000 acres and 50 acres.

At midday, the largest fire was still burning and firefighters were working to keep it from spreading.

No major structures have burned in the fire and so far there are no reports of any livestock being killed.

There were power outages in place in Yuma County because of the conditions.