As firefighters continued to attack from the ground and the air, the Alexander Mountain fire kept growing Tuesday. 

The Larimer County wildfire consumed more than 5,000 acres by Tuesday evening, with more than 3,200 area residents being evacuated, according to officials. 

Despite the extreme heat and dryness, with afternoon winds whipping the fire, officials expressed relief no structures had been destroyed and there were no injuries. 

As of Tuesday evening, 0% of the fire has been contained, according to Incident Commander Mike Smith of the U.S. Forest Service during a late Tuesday news conference organized by the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office.

“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 rapidly changed directions and spread 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 aircraft fighting from above.

New “scooper” airplanes, which pick water up directly from sources as they fly, will also arrive Wednesday.

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,” Smith said. “Those things, combined with wind, really lead us into the situation that we see here.”

A Complex Incident Management Team will be reporting, 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.

That includes horses, which were evacuated to the Ranch at the Larimer County Fairgrounds and Events Complex. But those horses were moved, as officials continued to prep the fair grounds for the Larimer County Fair this weekend. 

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.

That 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.”

Roth added, “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.”

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 so far 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 Wednesday, 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 their local Red Cross to provide information on providing resources.

Two evacuation 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.

“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 OK,” she said.

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 OK with it. If not, that’s OK.”

A wildfire erupted on Tuesday in Boulder County near Lyons and crews were responding to assess the situation.

Vinnie Montez, a deputy with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, posted a video on the social media platform X just before 2 p.m. Tuesday and said the fire is in the Stone Canyon area.

The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office ordered an evacuation for the Eagle Ridge area due to the wildfire. That is northeast of Lyons, just north of Dowe Flats and south of the Little Thomspon River.