Just a few miles from the Alexander Mountain Fire, which is continuously raging and spreading eastward, Gov. Jared Polis spoke with the media, noting that the Colorado National Guard has been called to assist.

“We’re taking an all-hands-on-deck approach to deal with the number of fires across the state of Colorado,” Polis said. “Alexander Mountain and Stone Canyon both transferred authority at midnight to become state fires.”

Polis added that the National Guard will not work as firefighters but will be able to take additional support positions, complete road closures, add logistics, and free up work for other first responders.

The National Guard was expected to be on the ground by Wednesday afternoon.

Polis also noted that following his declaration of a disaster emergency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has agreed to cover 75% of the cost to fight the fires, with a potential 100% incoming after determinations.

While the Alexander Mountain fire, which began on Monday, was right behind Polis during his conference, he addressed the significance of all three fires currently burning throughout the region.

As of 1 p.m. Wednesday, the Stone Canyon fire had burned 1,580 acres, the Alexander Mountain fire burned 6,781 acres, and the Quarry fire in Jefferson County, which has destroyed an estimated five structures and killed one person, continued burning around 150 acres.

Both the Stone Canyon and Alexander Mountain remained at 0% containment as of Wednesday afternoon.

“The fact that Colorado is no stranger to wildfires doesn’t make the last 96 hours any less jarring,” said U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse of Lafayette, noting that multiple fire departments and agencies have cooperated greatly to help battle the fires into Wednesday.

Collaboration is the word of the day, he noted.

Along with the 250 firefighters on the ground at the Alexander Mountain fire – stretching multiple departments – aircraft and helicopters have been fighting the fire to prevent flames from reaching populated areas and structures. Two “scooper” planes have come from Wyoming to assist today, taking water directly from nearby sources to dump on flames.

Regardless of the work, Polis said the fire is likely to last weeks or months due to the weather and wooded area on Alexander Mountain.

“Our biggest concerns over the next few days are the community of Cedar Park and the potential for the fire to spot over Highway 34,” Incident Commander Mike Smith of the U.S. Forest Service said. We are doing as much as we can in this limited-resource environment to protect these communities, but our number one priority is human life.”

The scarcest resource for all three of the fires is ground crews, according to Colorado Public Safety Director Stan Hilkey. The state is trying to get backup from out of the state, but with other western fires, like the ones currently raging in Oregon, groundcrews have been spread across the country. Some of Colorado’s firefighting crews, for example, left the state prior to the current fires to assist other states.

According to Hilkey, while the current resources are not “severely impacting” the situation, it could be better.

“We support that mobile mission of helping our partners because our partners help us,” Hilkey said. “But I also think that as opportunity arises, and with the weather patterns that we have the rest of the summer, I’d feel a lot more comfortable if we had some of those resources back.”

Those affected

Jenny Coll sat outside of a popup camper in the middle of the Foundation Church parking lot, working on her laptop with her year-old poodle, Torrey, snoozing on a blanket.

“Yesterday, I was just pissed,” Coll said, maintaining a cheery demeanor behind her words of frustration. “I was pissed that I had to leave my house.”

With around 4,000 people being evacuated – both voluntarily and involuntarily – from the Alexander Mountain region in Larimer County as the wildfires rage through the region, many have headed toward the two Red Cross evacuation centers in both Loveland and Estes Park.

Coll, her husband George Coll, and Torrey decided to head to the Loveland evacuation center Tuesday evening after their neighborhood got placed under mandatory evacuation.

Her Airbnb tenants, who were in town from Nebraska for a wedding in Estes Park, high-tailed it out of the state after being one of the last people to make it down the mountain before the roads closed.

“The grandfather had never been west of Nebraska,” she said. “I thought, you can’t even see the mountains. Come back later.”

Both the Colls maintained smiles and laughs while, a few miles away, flames surrounded the property they’ve owned since 1993.

“I didn’t feel good about leaving. I didn’t want to leave my house… It’s okay,” she said, adding that the workers at the Red Cross and Foundation Church have been a blessing to her and her pup.

“Many, many years ago I used to do wildland firefighting down in Jefferson County,” Pat O’Reilly, who evacuated to the center from Masonville, said about his past with the Red Cross. “The Red Cross is amazing. This church? The people? Extremely friendly. They’re very, very, very welcoming.”

O’Reilly and his two kittens came down and stayed at the shelter. O’Reilly also maintained a positive attitude, noting that he believes his home will be safe due to the big stretches of road around it.

“I’m not there,” Coll said of her fear and thought process. “I’m not going to let myself go to not having a house to go back to. I’m not going to let myself go there.”

“My daughter was very concerned,” O’Reilly said. “I said, ‘My house is not going to burn down. It’s not.’”

“It’s a lot of prayer, a lot of hope and a lot of trust,” Coll said.

“It’s a lot of a 30-foot perimeter around my house,” O’Reilly responded jokingly.