Wildfires across western Colorado are causing significant impacts to travel along Interstate 70. Those fires were reported in Garfield, Eagle, and Moffat Counties, and pre-evacuation orders are in place in Garfield County.

The westbound lanes of I-70 were closed near Gypsum, according to the , but they have since reopened as of 4:40 p.m. The eastbound lanes remained open through those firefighting efforts. There were also numerous fires with heavy smoke visible initially reported near Dotsero, but they were largely extinguished by Thursday evening.

The fire in Garfield County, which is being called the , was reported just after 3:30 p.m. and the Garfield County Emergency Communications Authority said a pre-evacuation order was sent to residences more than 1 mile and within 2 miles of the intersection of County Road 320 and County Road 309.

According to Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center () the Hilltop Fire was burning more than 370 acres. According to the sheriff's office it had 5% containment.

"All evacuated residents EAST of the fire should evacuate to the Garfield County Fairgrounds in Rifle. All evacuated residents WEST of the fire should evacuate to the Cottonwood Park/Parachute Fairgrounds," the order said.

And just before 2 p.m., a fire was reported on Highway 40 near milepost 25 in Moffat County near the town of Dinosaur, just east of the Colorado-Utah state line, according to the . Aretesia Fire, Moffat County Sheriff's Office, and the Bureau of Land Management were responding to that fire.

According to Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center () the Horse Draw Fire was burbing more than 800 acres. There was no immediate containment information Thursday night.   

People are being asked to avoid the areas of all these fires and should expect a large police and fire rescue presence.

Gypsum is about 130 miles west of Denver.

Another fire broke out in Glenwood Springs around 7:30 p.m. According to the Glenwood Springs Fire Department, a brush fire started east of Palmer Avenue between 23rd Street and 27th Street, causing an evacuation order for residents of the Altitude Apartments. Those evacuations lasted about an hour before residents were allowed to return home just before 9 p.m.  

Authorities said the brush fire is estimated to be approximately a quarter acre in size and asked the public to avoid the area while first responders work to contain it. A helicopter called in to help slow the growth of the fire has since been released. The fire department said crews will continue to work through the night to build handline around the fire. RMACC was reporting that burn had grown to at least 1 acre in size Thursday night.