The Spring Fire grew overnight to 78,944 acres and is only 5 percent contained.

“The change in yesterday’s containment from 10 percent back to 5 percent was not due to any loss of achieved containment,” said Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team Black. “The fire grew thousands of acres; this caused the perimeter to grow as well, thus decreasing the full percentage of containment.”

The North Spring Fire, which is the portion of the Spring Fire north of Highway 160, was active on the northeast side Monday and could be seen in the Silver Mountain area.

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Rocky Mountain Blue Team, an interagency incident management team, said fire crews will work with heavy equipment, such as bulldozers and road graders, to contain the eastern side of the fire.

The wildfire, which destroyed at least 104 homes and forced the evacuation of more than 2,000 residences, was about 5 percent contained.

“The fire continues to grow every day and moves quickly when it reaches a new area of dense fuel such as heavy, mixed conifer,” says a Monday update from the Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team Black.

The Huerfano County Office of Emergency Management called for more evacuations Monday afternoon from Chama, Redwing, Malachite and Badito south of Colorado 69, which was closed.

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About 550 firefighters were battling the blaze Monday, says InciWeb, a national incident information system.

A man accused of starting it, Jesper Joergensen, 52, initially said he was burning trash on land where he has been living in a camper but then said he had been grilling in a permanent fire pit the day before the wildfire started, an arrest affidavit says.

Joergensen, who reported the wildfire about 205 miles southwest of Denver, said he woke up Wednesday from a nap, smelled smoke and saw a fire burning in sagebrush about 20 feet from the fire pit. He said he tried to put it out but caught a blanket on fire and burned himself, the affidavit says.

Authorities haven’t released details on the extent of the fire damage, but the arrest affidavit said about 25 residences had been burned to the ground as of Thursday, when he was arrested.

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In Forbes Park, a development started by multimillionaire Malcolm Forbes in the 1970s, a partial assessment showed 104 homes destroyed and 61 intact, San Luis Valley emergency officials tweeted Monday night. More assessments were expected in other neighborhoods in the area.

Property owners can review the assessment report at  slvemergency.org.

Rio Grande Scenic Railroad officials said the fire destroyed the rail’s outdoor concert stage, and it is raising money to rebuild it.

Joergensen, who is from Denmark, is in jail and scheduled to appear in court Tuesday. It’s not clear if he has a lawyer. A call to the public defender for the area was not returned.

According to the arrest affidavit, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent told investigators Joergensen had an expired visa and was living in the country illegally. ICE has requested that Joergensen be turned over to them should he be released from jail.

The Colorado Department of Transportation has closed Colorado 69 from 5 miles north of Walsenburg (milepost 5) to the Huerfano/Custer County line (milepost 42), the agency said.

U.S. 160 will remain closed from La Veta (milepost 294) to Fort Garland (milepost 258). Colorado 12 — the Highway of Legends — also will remain closed northbound and southbound from County Road 420 (milepost 7) in La Veta to the summit of Cuchara Pass (milepost 22.5).

Other wildfires continued to burn across the state Tuesday, including the lightning-caused Weston Pass fire, which grew to 9,342 acres, InciWeb reported. The blaze was zero percent contained.

RELATED: [INTERACTIVE MAP] Current wildfires in Colorado

The Spring Creek fire now is the largest burning in Colorado, surpassing the 52,778 -acre blaze near Durango. That 416 fire is 37 percent contained.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

RELATED: [INTERACTIVE MAP] Current wildfires in Colorado