DENVER — The Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) announced Saturday that it has begun evacuating 179 individuals in custody from Rifle Correctional Center in response to the rapidly evolving Lee Fire in Rio Blanco County.

Inmates at the Rifle Correctional Center are being transferred to other CDOC facilities, the agency said.

These evacuations are in addition to the ones already in place in several zones surrounding the Rio Blanco County fire.

As of Friday afternoon, the Town of Meeker is no longer under a pre-evacuation status.

The 107,000-acre Lee Fire has exploded in size after lightning sparked the blaze Aug. 3. The intense heat from the state’s largest wildfire is even creating its own weather.

The wildfire is one of at least eleven others burning across the Western Slope.

See Full Page