Hundreds of evacuations in Colarado

A wildfire forced the evacuation of hundreds of homes near Colorado’s Breckenridge Ski Resort on Wednesday.

The fire, one of several burning across the West, was reported by a mountain biker late Wednesday morning and is consuming beetle-killed trees in the White River National Forest about 6.4 kilometres from the resort.

It had scorched about 32.4 hectares and forced the evacuation of 463 homes that are about a mile north of the resort.

All of the homes on Peak 7 were evacuated, and nearby residents have been warned that they might have to leave, according to the Red, White & Blue Fire Protection District. The base of the resort, which includes hotels, restaurants and businesses, was not evacuated.

Eight Forest Service firefighters parachuted in, and two heavy tankers and a helicopter dropped slurry and water on the fire throughout the day.

The fire has not burned any structures and died down as temperatures cooled Wednesday night. Evacuation orders were expected to remain in place until midday Thursday.

The fire was among several dotting the West on Wednesday, including one that was burning near a nuclear facility in Washington state.

That grass and brush fire, which started Sunday and was burning in part on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, is 85 per cent contained and is not threatening any of the site’s nuclear facilities. It has burned about 93.2 sq. kilometres in Yakima and Benton counties.

In northern Nevada on Wednesday, fire officials advised residents to leave their homes with their animals ahead of one of several blazes sweeping across the hot, dry rangeland.