A new wildfire in the mountains of Colorado, the so-called Pearl Fire, required evacuations on Monday. The evacuations were ordered for the Crystal Lakes area northwest of Red Feather Lakes in Larimer County.

To ensure resources and support for the on-site response, Governor Jared Polis verbally declared a state of emergency in light of the fire to ensure multi-agency support.

The evacuation area includes Larimer County Road 86 and County Road 170 and the Crystal Lakes north of Black Mountain to the Colorado-Wyoming state line.

According to the Larimer County Sheriff, three firefighting planes and three helicopters were deployed Monday afternoon. The helicopters dropped fire extinguishers and the planes dropped fire retardant over the fire.

By 4 p.m. Monday, the fire had destroyed 56 hectares of land. It was zero percent under control, although 50 people were battling the fire. Additional firefighters were called in.

The evacuation center at Livermore Community Hall, 2044 W. County Road 74E, will close at 6:00 p.m. A nighttime evacuation center will open at 6:30 p.m. at Cache La Poudre Middle School, 3515 CR 54G, Laporte.

What caused the Pearl Fire is still unknown. The first reports of the fire were issued by Larimer County authorities shortly after 11:30 a.m.

There were no reports of injuries as of early Monday afternoon.