Wildfire near Meeker makes large runs, nearly doubles in size

Fueled by hot, dry and windy weather, the Lee fire burning in northwestern Colorado made large runs Tuesday and is now burning across nearly 22,500 acres, up from 13,000 the day before, fire officials said.

The Lee fire, which sparked over the weekend west of Meeker, spread mainly to the east toward Colorado 13, but also made large runs to the south, the Rocky Mountain Area Complex Incident Management Team said in a morning update Wednesday.

Crews are working to protect the structures on the east side of the fire, the team said.

The nearby Elk fire, burning east of Meeker, saw less fire activity Tuesday, but still grew by about 550 acres, fire officials said. It is now estimated at about 8,304 acres.

Reduced fire activity allowed firefighters to stop the fire from moving forward on th