Editor’s Note: Click here for the July 31 live blog with Colorado wildfire updates.

Get real-time updates on the Alexander Mountain fire from The Denver Gazette staff. Refresh for updates.

8:30 p.m. – The fire has grown to an estimated 5,080 acres, with 0% containment at this time. The U.S. Fire Service reported fire growth primarily along the north, west, and east perimeters, according to the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office.

5:50 p.m. – Loveland Water and Power announced via X that it will de-energize the electric line from Sylvan Dale Ranch west to Waltonia, due to the effects of the Alexander Mountain Fire. Affected residents in the area are encouraged to visit http://lovewp.org/outages for information regarding the power outage.

5:15 p.m. – The mountain wildfire continues into Tuesday evening, reaching over 3,500 acres as of 4 p.m., the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office said during a press conference.

As of Tuesday evening, 0% of the fire has been contained, according to Incident Commander Mike Smith.

“We’ll be having a nightshift this evening, overnight, trying to do what we can,” Smith said, with plumes of smoke rising from Sylvan Dale Ranch behind him. “But we are facing a pretty significant shortage of resources nationally.”

The wildfire, which is rapidly changing direction and spreading to the west, east and north, has caused a mad dash in response, with over 270 firefighters from various local departments working to battle the fire on the ground and helicopters and fixed-wing aircrafts fighting from above.

New “scooper” airplanes, that pick water up directly from sources as it flies, will also arrive tomorrow.

The fire initially started at about noon Monday, and grew quickly to around 900 acres Monday night. It rapidly increased to the 3,500 acres overnight and Tuesday.

“Seeing that sort of fire growth overnight speaks to the dryness of the fuels and the dryness of the atmosphere. Those things, combined with wind, really lead us into the situation that we see here,” Smith said.

A Complex Incident Management Team will be reporting tomorrow, according to Smith, bringing about more resources than the current Type 3 Incident Command structure.

“For this incident, this is one of the most efficient and timely processes I’ve seen,” Jason Sieg, deputy supervisor of the Arapahoe and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland, said.

The fire and ongoing battle has also led to various evacuations — both mandatory and voluntary — throughout the Larimer County region.

As of Tuesday night, 3,245 citizens have been moved via mandatory evacuations. More than 820 have been informed of voluntary evacuations.

While the priority of the fighting is the safety of both firefighters and the public, with teams avoiding areas in which they cannot safely enter and exit, Smith hangs his hat on the success that no one, neither firefighter nor resident, has been injured in the two-day fire. He also noted that no residential buildings, to their knowledge, have been affected.

The group did note that there are residential buildings potentially in danger to the east and north of the canyon, but structures have yet to catch on fire.

The dumping of retardants and water will continue into tomorrow as they have today, Smith added, saying that rain isn’t in the forecast to help until Friday — and then, only possibly.

While Larimer County Sheriff John Feyen has seen a plethora of citizens reaching out with questions about how they can help, Feyen points them toward calling their local Red Cross to provide information on providing resources.

4:00 p.m. – Multiple agencies in Larimer County are reporting that the fire has grown to over 3,500 acres as of Tuesday afternoon. 

The Larimer County Sheriff issued an evacuation order from the north side of Carter Lake, north to Highway 34 has been upgraded to a mandatory evacuation order. Residents in the area should evacuate immediately.

2:23 p.m. – Boulder County has officially issued an evacuation order in the area of Eagle Ridge, between Boulder and Fort Collins.

There is currently an active fire in the Stone Canyon area near Lyons, the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office said on social media.

2:00 p.m. – Larimer county residents who own large animals or livestock in the region affected by the Alexander Mountain wildfires are able to take their animals to the Ranch at the Larimer County Fairgrounds and Events Complex.

The Larimer County Sheriff’s Office and their Posse group — a volunteer mounted horse organization with the sheriff’s office — collected animals and livestock at the fairgrounds and began moving them up to the Island Grove Regional Park in Greeley Tuesday afternoon.

The animals are being moved up to the park due to the oncoming Larimer County Fair occurring at the fairgrounds between Friday and Aug. 6. The move will allow them to move the animals out of the sun and into shelter until the evacuations are called off.

A spokesperson with the sheriff’s office noted that he does not believe the county fair will be cancelled due to the wildfires raging westward.

The animal evacuation center at the Ranch has seen a plethora of animals come through in the past 24 hours, with the Larimer County Horseman’s Association helping assist the move to Greeley.

“We have a lot of rural areas in Larimer County,” Sgt. Sam Roth said at the evacuation center. “A lot of people do have farms, livestock, horses and other animals.”

“For a lot of people, it’s a really stressful time for them because they have to evacuate their homes and grab anything they can carry, along with their animals,” Roth said.

While the sheriff’s office has had to do a few animal evacuation centers in the past few years, Roth noted, this is the largest one since the Cameron Peak fires in 2020.

Those with large animals and livestock can still bring them to the county fairgrounds. They will then be moved up to Greeley by the sheriff’s office. 

12:05 p.m. – Dozens of people residing in the eastern side of the Alexander Mountain fire headed to one of two Red Cross evacuation sites set throughout Larimer County.

While evacuations in the area began yesterday afternoon, new evacuation orders were released by the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office around 12 p.m. Tuesday.

There is now a voluntary evacuation order for people residing in Hidden Valley east of Devils Backbone, including Ridge Parkway and Spring Glade Road. There is also a mandatory evacuation for the Masonville area and Glade Road from Highway 34 to Indian Creek.

The two shelter sites include the Foundation Church in Loveland and the Estes Park Event Complex in Estes Park, surrounding both sides of the fire raging off of Highway 34. Both sites are providing shelter, food, information and other resources for those forced to evacuate their homes Monday afternoon. 

“My head felt like it was getting hit from different directions,” Kara Miller, a resident of Eden Valley, said of the evacuation outside of the Foundation Church Tuesday morning. 

Miller and her husband, Ken Miller, had to leave their farm and are currently staying at the house of a customer of the farmer’s market they sell at.

But the two aren’t shaken by the potential damage set about by the blaze.

“Emotionally, for myself, it’s not that big of a deal. The Lord’s in control. If my house goes, it’s okay,” she said, pointing toward her faith helping her get through the stress. 

Handel Smith — who lives with his wife and works at the Eden Valley Institute of Wellness — noted that his religious faith is also helping him get through the tough time.

When Smith and his wife heard of the mandatory evacuation, he rushed to grab the things he considered irreplaceable before heading to Loveland. He left behind his family photos, though.

“You take what’s necessary and then you leave the rest and don’t worry about it,” Smith said. “You just have to leave it in God’s hands. If he wants me to come back to this stuff, we’re okay with it. If not, that’s okay.”

Smith, who has lived in Georgia, Tennessee and Arkansas before heading to Colorado last year, has seen a plethora of natural disasters, including hurricanes and tornadoes.

Nearly 20 minutes after the fire began rising from the mountain, he saw helicopters beginning work to battle it — an extremely quick response in his experience with natural disasters.

As Smith was talking, his wife informed him that the fires were seemingly spreading westward, while their home lays east of the area — a brief relief.

“We could see the smoke, but we couldn’t see the flames. That’s a good thing,” Smith said.

10:17 a.m. – The size of the Alexander Mountain fire has been updated to 1,820 acres after a multi-mission aircraft mapped the fire, officials said. 

Multiple aircraft dropped water and fire retardant on Monday, but the fire remained at 0% containment, officials said. More than 200 “ground resources” were on scene working the fire. Hot, dry weather is expected over the next few days and the Alexander Mountain fire is expected to produce “significant smoke” which will impact people with sensitive breathing.

At 6 a.m. Tuesday, a USDA Forest Service Type 3 Incident Management Team took over as the lead agency fighting the fire. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Information about the fire, evacuations and road closures can be found at nocoalert.org, by texting LCEVAC to 888777 or by calling 970-980-2500.

10:02 a.m. – The National Weather Service in Boulder posted on social media platform X recently: “Given that videos and imagery this morning of the #AlexanderMountainFire show it is relatively active, a Red Flag Warning was extended to include the northern Front Range foothills.”

Forecasters added winds will “weaken the rest of the morning, but may become breezy this afternoon.” 

8:45 a.m. – The Alexander Mountain fire had grown to 950 acres as of 7:45 p.m. Monday with 0% containment, according to the U.S. Forest Service, which flew an aircraft over the blaze. Mandatory evacuations were in place Monday for residents along Highway 34 from Drake to Dam Store, including Storm Mountain and Palisade Mountain, and along Waltonia Road, Eden Valley to Sunrise Ranch and Sylvan Dale to Ellis Ranch. Residents were also ordered to evacuate Monday from County Road 18E, from Pole Hill to Pinewood Reservoir.

Denver Gazette reporter Sage Kelley and photographer Stephen Swofford contributed to this report. This story is developing, and will be updated.