Sunrise in downtown Estes Park, and it is smoky & windy. Three fires burn nearby— Cameron Peak, Calwood and East Troublesome. East Troublesome erupted last night, making a run into Grand Lake and prompting evacuations of hundreds of people in the city and the surrounding areas.

A smoky scene for the historic Park Theatre and Cafe in Estes Park, where three wildfires burn nearby.

Alec Rogers just moved to Colorado and woke up to intense smoke from his downtown Estes Park apartment. He’s a trained forester and now gives wildlife photography tours.

“I’m just watching the fire very intensely. It seems to just get closer and closer as more of them pop up.”

A smoky sun in Estes Park

Gary Williams lives in Pinewood Springs, where in 2013 he was helicoptered out of due to flooding.

“I’d rather have the flood than the fire,” he said. “A fire, it’s almost, you can’t stop it.”

He’s getting ready to evacuate just in case.

Photo by @kevinjbeaty

(I somehow deleted the original above tweet, so here it is again!)

I promise there are mountains in this picture. The smoke in downtown Estes Park is almost unbearable.

The sun is trying to make its way through the smoke and clouds in Estes Park.

Mandatory evacuation orders now in place for areas of Estes Park, including downtown. That means me, now in a major traffic jam with all the other folks trying to get out of town.