John Hecker / InciWeb

In western Colorado, firefighters are up against more windy and hot weather as they try to protect homes and oil and gas resources from a pair of lightning-caused wildfires that have rapidly grown in the last few days, consuming more than 120,000 acres so far.

The larger of the two, the Lee Fire, has forced evacuations in two counties, including homes and a prison . At one point it was within one mile of burning into the small ranching and hunting town of Meeker, about 150 miles west of Denver.

"This is the kind of fire that is really driven in part by the significant drought-stressed fuels that are out there," says Bethany Urban, a fire information officer with Rocky Mountain Area Complex Incident Management Team 3. "It doesn't actually take that much of a w

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