The Muddy Slide fire in Routt County west of Kremmling more than tripled in size from Tuesday to Wednesday, growing to 3,500 acres following extreme fire behavior overnight.

Russell Gehl has been watching the fire since it started on Sunday from Toponas Country General Store, a shop he owns, about six miles from the intense blaze.

“Last night we could see the glow of the fire as the sun was setting. … It looked like it would be miles long,” he said.

He wasn’t in danger Tuesday afternoon because the fire was moving south and east away from his shop, but said he wouldn’t be surprised to get an evacuation call.  Mandatory evacuations have already been called along country roads in the area, according to a federal incident management system.

The fire is burning in the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest where Gehl used to hunt and he expects the flames will wipe out the habitat where many trees have been killed by beetles.

About 100 firefighters are battling the blaze and had yet to achieve any containment as of Wednesday afternoon, according to a federal incident management system.

Fire Spokesman Jesse McCarty said that firefighters were attempting to fully suppress the fire, but were attacking the fire when it was only safe to do so given the complexity of the fire and the higher risk to firefighters’ safety.

“That large progression in a very short period of time tells us this fire has the potential to grow in severity and size,” he said.

Forest Service spokeswoman Cass Cairns said eight additional crews are expected to arrive in the next few days, and that the Rocky Mountain Blue Type II incident management team would be bringing additional resources when they arrived to replace a lower-level federal team.

Overcast weather Wednesday aided crews and the smoke had died down because of the cloud cover, she said.

“The fire is carrying south-southeast, so anybody in that path will be able to taste the smoke,” Cairns said.

The fire started burning in spruce and fir trees that were around 25% beetle killed, Cairns said. It has burned in grouped lodgepole pine trees that are around 75% beetle killed.

The blaze was one of several raging across the state as fire season ramps up, although some seemed to have slowed during the day Tuesday.

Overcast skies slowed the Sylvan Lake fire south of Eagle. The fire grew from about 3,360 acres on Tuesday to about 3,583 Wednesday evening. The previous day, it had added 1,500 acres.

“We’re really working to get ahead of it and get our hands around it, but I want to prepare people for the probability this fire will be with us for a very long time,” Lisa Stoeffler, White River National Forest deputy supervisor, said.

The Oil Springs fire in Rio Blanco County near the Utah Border was estimated at around 7,395 acres Wednesday morning and no containment had been achieved.

In the far northwest corner of the state, the West fire had burned 3,107 acres and had achieved 30% containment on Tuesday.

Rain is forecast Friday through Monday for the mountains across Colorado could bring some relief to crews, said Peter Goble, climatologist with the Colorado Climate Center. Although the Oil Springs fire is not expected to benefit as much, he said.

This summer Colorado is expected to see above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation that could increase fire risk, he said.

“The long-term forecast is not particularly encouraging,” he said.