A fast-moving wildfire burning through the Boulder, Colorado area has forced mandatory evacuations for at least 19,000 people on Saturday, authorities reported.
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The Boulder Office of Emergency Management reported that the fire is believed to have originated near the National Center for Atmospheric Research's Mesa Laboratory & Visitor Center and only needed a few hours before it doubled in size.
As of Sunday, there haven't been any injuries or missing people reported from the blaze. It has not been made clear if the fire threatened any structures.
The agency shared the emergency evacuation order on Twitter, saying it affects nearly 8,000 homes near the blaze, with the fire burning as big as 123 acres Saturday night.
The fire was estimated to be around 200 acres and 21% contained on Sunday, according to Boulder County incident command Mike Smith.
However, despite the fire growing in size, the weather is no longer on the side of the fire but rather against it.
"The wind is now dying down, and we're expecting the weather to work more in our favor," Marya Washburn, a Boulder Fire Rescue spokeswoman, told NBC News.
Most of the containment was accomplished by firefighters thanks to the overnight weather of low wind speeds and humidity, according to Smith, who added that work is being done to stop it from spreading and causing more destruction.
"We will continue to reinforce the line to make sure that the fire doesn't move towards the city or down towards Eldorado Canyon," Smith said. "We're gonna continue to try and corral this fire up into the rocks into the snow, which is really one of our big holding features right now and one of the reasons that we're having really, again, good success."
Mandatory evacuation orders are still in place as of Sunday. Some areas have been cleared out of the evacuation zone, but the routes to get there were not yet safe to travel.
Some evacuation orders have been reduced to cover around 1,700 people and 700 residences, according to officials, the Associated Press reported.
However, during a press conference on Sunday morning, officials shared they have plans in place for more evacuations if necessary, but they are hoping they will not need to use them.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but it is believed to have originated south of the Mesa Laboratory, and emergency management officials shared that the Boulder County Sheriff's Office is looking for potential witnesses, NBC News reported.
As for right now, as firefighters continue to battle the wildfire, Washburn said that protecting homes and buildings is the top priority.
"We're doing everything we can to keep structures safe," Washburn said.
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