“The fires are out of hand,” said cowboy Lee Burton of MM Cattle Company in a spare five minutes, as he raced to move cattle to safer pastures. “It’s a huge deal for this community but we are banding together, and we are all helping our neighbors.”

On Aug. 2 lighting strikes ignited fires on Bureau of Land Management land 11 miles southwest of the Rio Blanco County town of Meeker. The Grease and Lee fires quickly merged, burning along the southern corridor of Highway 64.

The same day, 10 miles southeast of Meeker, the Elk fire was discovered on private land in the Oak Ridge Area.

By Aug. 5, authorities increased the national preparedness level from PL3 to PL4, and the Rocky Mountain Area Critical Incident Management Team 3 took command of the fires.

Meanwhile, Gov. Jared Polis declared a disaster emergency and authorized the mobilization of the Colorado National Guard to support fire efforts, including additional air support in the form of two Colorado National Guard Chinook helicopters.

As of this Sunday, the Elk fire had burned 14,635 acres and the Lee fire 106,672 acres, with nine and 6% containment, respectively. Over a thousand personnel from multiple agencies, along with 14 aircraft and 51 engines, are fighting the fires.

The effect of the fires on the rural community has been devastating.

According to the Rio Blanco County Sheriff’s Office, two homes and 13 structures have been destroyed or damaged.

While the town of Meeker was under threat from the encroaching fire along Highway 64 and CR 13, the lush green hay fields have saved it, according to County Commissioner Callie Hendrickson.

But while the town is safe and expensive tractors and farm machinery are parked in loose circles in the middle of bright green hay fields, ranchers are struggling. Livestock during August are usually put out to summer pastures in higher elevations.

“Ninety percent of the Lee fire’s devastation was on BLM land leased for cattle grazing,” said Burton, the cowboy. “Ranchers are struggling to find new pastures to graze.”

Hendrickson spoke of a family of sheep ranchers who were between two packs of wolves and now are hemmed in by fire and are racing to get their sheep to safety.

Also central to the town’s economy are the large numbers of hunters and anglers drawn to the area for its pristine wilderness. Situated at the entrance to the Flat Tops Wilderness, Meeker is home to several outfitters and guiding companies.

Jimmy Oswald, General Manager of LKS Outfitters, which operates Flat Top Wilderness Guides, Horn Fork Guides and River’s Bend Outfitters, said the company has already had to cancel several planned trips.

“We had two additional fishing trips booked Aug. 6-10 and 13-17 and had to cancel both of them,” Oswald said. “Where the base is on County Road 43, we had to evacuate. Those trips cost us about $25,000.”

LKS also has 15 U.S. Forest Service designated camp sites on the White River and on the Flat Tops Wilderness, which they can begin setting up Aug. 15 in time to take hunters up Aug. 31.

But each camp takes a three-person team a full day to set up and any delay means the camps won’t be ready in time for the start of hunting season Sept. 2.

“We’re either going to operate at full capacity or we aren’t going to operate. It’s all or nothing for us,” said Oswald. “Financially, there’s not enough money in it to run at a third capacity with the amount of horses. I have 58 horses and mules on site and another 20 on summer pasture in Burns, and now we need to get them out with Highway 13 closed.”

He added: “Running at partial capacity isn’t an option.”

Oswald said his situation isn’t unique. Ranchers are struggling to move cattle and sheep quickly, working day and night.

One ranch that suffered is the Clark White River Ranch off Highway 64 and CR 13.

On the north side of the White River all is lush and in bloom, flowers snaking around the green gate. But across a wooden and steel bridge, there is nothing but charred grass and the stumped remains of trees. Two large buildings have been saved by fire lines, but, up the hills leading to Joe Bush Mountain, there is nothing but black and grey.

“There has been oil and gas infrastructure threatened by the fires, as well,” said Hendrickson, the county official. “And those are the areas ranchers work in during lean times. They’re ranchers’ lifelines. For an already struggling rural community, this is a lot.”

The focus by the incident commanders is on patrol and mop up containment lines to keep the fire from spreading. Structure protection resources were kept in place around residences and other at risk values. As the progress is made on the Elk fire, authorities plan to move resources to assist in the Lee fire operations.