Large wildfire in northern Colorado prompts evacuations

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) - Crews are battling a wildfire in northern Colorado that has scorched 5,000 acres and prompted several dozen evacuation orders.

Larimer County Sheriff's spokesman John Schulz says the fire was reported just before 6 a.m. Saturday in the Paradise Park area. He says at least 46 structures and likely many more have been evacuated, and an evacuation center has been set up at a middle school in Laporte.

Ten structures have been damaged, although authorities were unsure if they were homes or some other kind of buildings.

A sheriff's statement says two heavy air tankers, five single-engine air tankers and four helicopters are on the scene.

The fire appears to be burning on private and U.S. Forest Service land.