MEEKER | The Rocky Mountain Area Complex Incident Management Team 3 hosted a media briefing and tour Tuesday to provide updates on the Elk and Lee fires.
Tyler Nathe, operations section chief for the team, said the Elk Fire currently covers 14,549 acres with 30% containment (that number has since been updated), while the Lee Fire has grown to 116,859 acres and is 6% contained. A total of 1,234 personnel are assigned to the incident, including crews, engines, helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, drones, and heavy equipment.
Regarding the Lee Fire, now the fifth largest wildfire in Colorado history, Nathe said, “The Lee Fire is the one that’s drawing all the attention right now, it’s the big smoke plume that everybody’s seeing from halfway across the state. We have the corridor around the town of Meeker pretty well locked in and secured, and that was a priority for us. We’re feeling really good about the threat to the town of Meeker no longer being there. We still have resources in place throughout the area to keep a presence and make sure we’re not surprised by anything down the road.”
The Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control and the Bureau of Land Management’s White River Field Office have coordinated with local agencies since the fires began, bringing in additional resources at the request of Rio Blanco County Sheriff Anthony Mazzola, who also spoke at the briefing.
“On the Elk Fire we had two residential buildings and two outbuildings lost. Right now the Elk Fire has no evacuation zones. Everybody was able to go back there,” Mazzola said.
At the height of evacuations, approximately 215 people were evacuated by the Elk Fire, while the Lee Fire forced about 840 people into evacuation zones.
“It’s been amazing to watch the support of the town coming together, working together with our federal partners to fight these fires. It’s been wild, it’s been scary, but you know we’re a rural county and we bond together,” Mazzola said.
While the timeline for full containment remains uncertain, crews continue to prioritize protecting “values at risk,” including homes and infrastructure. Early firefighting efforts focused on life and property protection through rapid firebreaks, defensive firing operations, and stationing engines to prevent fire spread.
Oil and gas infrastructure in the Piceance Creek area has so far been protected thanks to industry regulations requiring cleared vegetation around well pads. Bill Mills, field manager for the BLM White River Field Office, said the design features have been effective.
“We’ll have to do an assessment when the fire is complete, but what we’ve seen so far is that those design features have been very successful,” Mills said.
Residents have faced challenges to essential services. Allison Rob, representing incident command, said some utility poles were damaged and power was briefly shut off in certain areas but quickly rerouted to maintain service. She could not confirm the status of damaged telephone or internet lines, noting utility companies would have the most accurate information.
Rob also addressed water use in Meeker, noting that while there was some decline in the water system as residents watered lawns and fire engines used hydrants, no shortages occurred.
“I heard there was a bit of a decline in your water system then, but it didn’t hurt it or lessen it — no one was lacking water,” Rob said. Since then, water pressure has returned and tanks are full.
Public Information Officer Eric Coulter outlined ongoing risks to community safety in the coming days and weeks.
“The air quality with smoke, that’s definitely one of the risks, I think, for immediate communities — just staying diligent and watching updates and how this fire progresses,” Coulter said.
He urged residents to monitor official updates, stay alert to changing conditions, and be prepared to act if extreme fire behavior occurs.
