TOO HOT TO HANDLE

Prison Forced to Evacuate After Wildfires Engulf Region

Hundreds of inmates in Colorado have been temporarily moved to another correctional facility.

A prison in Colorado has evacuated its inmates as the region continues to grapple with one of the biggest wildfires in the state’s history. All 179 people incarcerated at the Rifle Correctional Center were safely moved to another facility on Saturday “out of an abundance of caution,” as the ongoing Lee Fire scorched 167 square miles across Garfield and Rio counties with just 6 percent containment. More than 1,000 firefighters are working to contain the blaze, according to the Colorado division of fire prevention and control, while health officials have issued air quality warning related to smoke emitting from the Lee fire and the nearby Elk fire also burning in the east. The inmates have been temporarily relocated to the Buena Vista Correctional Complex around 150 miles away from the fires, the Colorado Department of Corrections said in a statement. Meanwhile, fire crews in Southern California have reached 62 percent containment on an eight-square-mile wildfire named the Canyon fire which has forced evacuations and destroyed at least seven structures after it broke out near the Los Angeles County and Ventura County line on Thursday. Three firefighters have been injured trying to battle the blaze so far, officials confirmed.