A wildfire outside Meeker has quickly grown to the southeast and reached nearly 90,000 acres in size, resulting in some evacuations in Garfield County, including the evacuation of a state prison.

The Lee Fire had reached 88,755 acres in size by early Saturday, making it the sixth-largest fire in the history of Colorado. It had grown from nearly 61,000 acres the previous day.

The state Department of Corrections said Saturday afternoon that it had begun evacuating 179 prisoners from the Rifle Correctional Center, which is north of Rifle near Rifle Gap State Park.

It said in a news release, “The facility is currently implementing a coordinated evacuation to ensure the safety of all incarcerated individuals and staff.”

The department, in coordination with state and local emergency manageme

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