Crews in northern Colorado are bracing for powerful winds as they battle a blaze that has scorched about 86 square miles of mountainous forest land and destroyed at least 181 homes, the most in state history.
The destructiveness of the High Park Fire burning 15 miles west of Fort Collins surpassed the Fourmile Canyon wildfire, which destroyed 169 homes west of Boulder in September 2010.
More than 1,630 personnel are working on the Fort Collins-area fire, which was sparked by lightning and is 45 percent contained.
Julie Berney with the Larimer County Sheriff's Office says firefighters can expect sustained winds of 30 mph with gusts of up to 50 mph Sunday.
Meanwhile, incident commander Bill Hahnenberg says he is confident with the resources on hand.
Strong winds ground firefighting helicopters
POSTED: 10:50 PM MDT Jun 17, 2012
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