What now ranks as the fifth-largest wildfire in state history continues to have major impacts in the Meeker-Rifle region as firefighters continue to face challenges stopping its spread, particularly into Garfield County.

The Lee Fire southwest of Meeker as of Monday morning was at 113,378 acres in size, up from 106,672 acres the day before, the incident management team overseeing the firefighting effort said in a daily update.

It said that on Sunday, extreme fire behavior on the fire’s south side continued to challenge firefighting efforts, with wind gusts creating a high potential for long-range spot fires. Hotshot ground crews monitored spot fires and aircraft dropped water and retardant on the south and west sides of the fire, in part in an effort to try to keep it west of Colorado Hi

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