RIO BLANCO COUNTY, Colo. — The Lee Fire burning in Rio Blanco County became the fourth-largest blaze in Colorado history for a brief time this week before its size was downgraded again due to better mapping.
On Monday, fire officials said the slow-moving blaze had burned 138,844 acres of land just a little more than three weeks after igniting southwest of Meeker. By Wednesday morning, however, fire officials said the acreage was adjusted back to 137,758 acres "following improved mapping."
"The earlier increase was due to limitations in the previous data, which temporarily raised the estimate. With updated mapping now complete, the current acreage is 137,758 acres and reflects the most accurate information available," a spokesperson for the Incident Management Team currently battling the blaze told Denver7 in an email.
- Want to know which fires take the top three spots? We revisited the top 10 biggest wildfires to impact Colorado in the story below:
Wildfire
Looking back at Colorado's top 10 wildfires as the Lee Fire climbs up the list
Previously known as the Lee and Grease Fire, the blaze quickly surpassed the 416 Fire (2018), the West Fork Fire (2013), the Missionary Ridge Fire (2002), and the High Park Fire (2012) in size after scorching more than 100,000 acres of land just eight days after it started, according to fire officials.
Severe drought conditions combined with several days of red flag warnings along Colorado’s Western Slope, some of which persist for a swath of western Colorado, contributed to its rapid spread, fire officials added.
Discovered on Aug. 2 following a lightning strike in the Piceance Creek area on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land, the Lee Fire's growth briefly threatened the Town of Meeker, which was placed on a pre-evacuation notice just four days later.
Evacuation orders were also issued northwest of Rifle after the fire moved south, close to the Garfield County line.
Around-the-clock firefighting efforts were able to contain the blaze from jumping Highway 13, and the pre-evacuation notices for Meeker were rescinded on Aug. 8.
The fire was so large that it also ended up creating its own weather system.
- Denver 7 Meteorologist Stacy Donaldson explains how that weather system, aided by erratic fire behavior, is created in the video below:
By Aug. 10, the Lee Fire was inching closer in size to the 108,045-acre Spring Creek Fire from 2018 before it surpassed it less than three days later, after growing to over 123,000 acres in size.
A week later, the Lee Fire had grown to over 137,000 acres despite firefighters making good progress in containment.
The Lee Fire has so far burned at least three homes and 12 outbuildings.
Editor's note on Aug. 27, 2025: Fire officials have adjusted the size of the Lee fire back to 138,758 acres in size following better mapping of the acreage burned so far. This story has been edited to reflect this change.
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