Over 300 firefighters respond to Spring Creek Fire, residents prepare for possible evacuations

UPDATE: Garfield County residents on alert as Spring Creek Fire continues to burn

Over 300 fire crew members have responded to the Spring Creek Fire. It's about 5% contained as of around 4:30 p.m.

Fire officials say that as the fire has grown, the containment number has shrank comparatively.

The fire grew rapidly from 200 acres to over 3,000 over the course of a few hours Monday and it hadn't grown substantially Tuesday.

Jacob Smith turned his camera towards the Spring Creek Fire from the Battlement Mesa Golf Course, where he works.

"Just about everybody is pretty concerned," he said. "I know some people in Parachute are starting to pack up their stuff just in case she gets really out of control."

The fire has been burning to the south and away from Parachute. A time-lapse video taken Monday showed lots of smoke, but fortunately, not much except trees are in its path.

RELATED: Spring Creek Fire rapidly spreads to around 3,000 acres in Garfield County

No evacuations have been ordered as of late Tuesday afternoon.

Eric Coulter, a public information officer for the Spring Creek Fire incident noted: "we had a good winter with moisture, but it is a double-edged sword -- with moisture comes growth."

With the number of acres destroyed jumping into the thousands, more help has been summoned. What is called a complex incident management team combines what was referred to as type I and type II responses in the past.

The winds are pushing the fire but not so strong to knockout and air response to try to limit the blaze.

Official briefings are being posted on Facebook on the upper Colorado River interagency fire management page online https://www.facebook.com/UCRFireManagementUnit.

The huge clouds of smoke may be leaving a lot of people nervous. The cause is already being narrowed somewhat.

Coulter told CBS News Colorado, "we did not have any lightning so it's likely it will be human-caused."

Although far from the Denver metro area, the Spring Creek fire left a signature as a red-tented sunset smoke plume across the front range.

Tuesday David Boyd with the US Forest Service said the fire was not growing as quickly and was hitting mud and snow as it climbed to about 9000 feet in elevation.