Stone Canyon Fire destroys at least 2 homes in Colorado, part of Lyons now under evacuation order

A new wildfire on Colorado's Front Range has destroyed at least two homes and evacuations are in place in part of the town of Lyons as well as rural areas to the north. The wildfire is called the Stone Canyon Fire and it's burning in the Eagle Ridge area.

At 9 p.m. Boulder County officials said the fire is 1,320 acres in size. And shifting winds have led to an expanded evacuation zone.

Starting at 2 p.m. on Tuesday and for many hours afterward, a large plume of gray and black smoke could be seen coming from Eagle Ridge and Stone Mountain.

Aerial resources were quickly ordered for the fire and planes dropped slurry on the blaze soon afterwards. Those resources were partially diverted from the Alexander Mountain Fire which started on Monday. On Tuesday evening about 100 people were involved in the firefight.

Video from CBS Colorado's news helicopter soon after the fire started showed one house on the mountainside on fire. At least one other home was also located nearby and appeared to be threatened by the flames.

"Efforts remain focused on life safety and firefighting efforts, so the final determination of the number of impacted structures is still to be determined," Boulder County officials wrote in a news release Tuesday evening.  

The initial evacuation was ordered at 1:53 p.m. As of 5 p.m., the evacuation zone had grown significantly to include all homes to the north of Main Street and east of 5th Avenue in the Town of Lyons, plus areas around Indian Mountain, stretching into Alexander Mountain Fire evacuation areas.

All roads north of Highway 36 are closed. Westbound lanes of Highway 36 were also closed heading into Lyons, and westbound lanes leading to Lyons from Highway 66 were also shut down. The reason for those closures was to allow for firefighting equipment to be brought in safely to help with the firefight. 

The evacuation zone includes land in both Boulder County and Larimer County. More information about the evacuation zone is posted at www.BOCO911Alert.org.

An evacuation center for affected residents was set up at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont but there was "low community need" so it was closed. Any evacuees who need shelter can now go to 1380 Denver Avenue in Loveland. People who are evacuating large animals are now being asked to take them to Golden to the Jefferson County Fairgrounds.

The wildfire is burning approximately 8 miles to the south of the large Alexander Mountain Fire. That fire, located west of Loveland, has mandatory evacuations in place and Highway 34 through Big Thompson Canyon is closed.

So far there's no word on how the Stone Canyon Fire started. There have also been no reports of injuries.

An interactive map created by CBS News that shows wildfires across the U.S. can also be found here.