Smoke from a wildfire can be seen rising from the Medicine Bow National Forest from Highway 230 near Woods Landing, Wyoming on June 13, 2018. AP
DENVER — National Forest Service officials told residents of 163 more homes near the fire in the southwestern Colorado to be ready to leave Thursday — as well as residents who had been allowed to return to 180 homes on Wednesday.
Dry thunderstorms and gusty winds have expanded a San Juan National Forest wildfire that has forced evacuations of more than 1,900 homes.
The fire 13 miles (43 kilometers) north of Durango has blackened more than 45 square miles (116 square kilometers) and forced officials to close the San Juan National Forest in the Four Corners Region.
The Four Corners region where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah meet is in the middle of a large swath of exceptional drought, the worst category of drought.