The evening sky glows orange as smoke and flames from the Waldo Canyon Fire has consumed 2500 acres west of Garden of the Gods near Colorado Springs, Colo. on Saturday, June 23, 2012. The fire is zero percent contained. Voluntary and mandatory evacuations were taking place across the west side of Colorado Springs. Tankers were dropping fire retardant in front of the advancing flames. ( AP Photo/Bryan Oller)
The evening sky glows orange as smoke and flames from the Waldo Canyon Fire has consumed 2500 acres west of Garden of the Gods near Colorado Springs, Colo. on Saturday, June 23, 2012. The fire is zero percent contained. Voluntary and mandatory evacuations were taking place across the west side of Colorado Springs. Tankers were dropping fire retardant in front of the advancing flames. ( AP Photo/Bryan Oller)
A giant plume from the Waldo Canyon Fire hovers high above Garden of the Gods near Colorado Springs, Colo. on Saturday, June 23, 2012. The fire is zero percent contained and has consumed 2500 acres. Voluntary and mandatory evacuations were taking place across the west side of Colorado Springs. Tankers were dropping fire retardant in front of the advancing flames. ( AP Photo/Bryan Oller)
The evening sky glows orange as smoke and flames from the Waldo Canyon Fire has consumed 2500 acres west of Garden of the Gods near Colorado Springs, Colo. on Saturday, June 23, 2012. The fire is zero percent contained. Voluntary and mandatory evacuations were taking place across the west side of Colorado Springs. Tankers were dropping fire retardant in front of the advancing flames. ( AP Photo/Bryan Oller)
Leaping flames race across a ridge as the Waldo Canyon Fire burned 2500 acres west of Garden of the Gods near Colorado Springs, Colo. on Saturday, June 23, 2012. The fire is zero percent contained. Voluntary and mandatory evacuations were taking place across the west side of Colorado Springs. Tankers were dropping fire retardant in front of the advancing flames. ( AP Photo/Bryan Oller)
Smoke billows thousands of feet in the air from the Waldo Canyon Fire has consumed 2500 acres west of Garden of the Gods near Colorado Springs, Colo. on Saturday, June 23, 2012. The fire is zero percent contained. Voluntary and mandatory evacuations were taking place across the west side of Colorado Springs. Tankers were dropping fire retardant in front of the advancing flames. ( AP Photo/Bryan Oller)
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) ? A wildfire near Colorado Springs erupted and grew out of control to more than 3 square miles over the weekend, prompting the evacuation of a popular vacation town and the closure of nearby highways Sunday.
The 5,000 residents of Manitou Springs were ordered to leave Saturday hours after the blaze erupted in El Paso County. It quickly grew to more than 2,000 acres amid tinder dry conditions, gusty winds and temperatures that reached into the 90s.
The fire also prompted evacuations for the west side of Colorado Springs and in the towns of Cascade and Ute Pass, but no structures have been destroyed and no buildings were under immediate threat.
Manitou Springs fire department's chaplain and public information officer, the Rev. David Hunting, said the orders were precautions because "fires can change their behavior dramatically" in such weather conditions.
In some neighborhoods, police cruisers rolled down streets, issuing the order to leave through a loudspeaker.
"Colorado Springs Police Department," an officer said. "This is a mandatory evacuation notice. Evacuate now."
Hundreds of other residents were under voluntary evacuation orders and were packing up, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported Saturday. Officials also closed traffic into Manitou Springs, a popular vacation town at the base of Pikes Peak, and shut down the Pikes Peak Highway.
About 350 firefighters were dispatched to the blaze, but the fire remained zero percent contained as it burned through the night. Crews were expected to contend with similarly hot and gusty weather on Sunday. The National Weather Service said temperatures were forecast to be close to 100 degrees throughout much of the state.
Colorado and other parts of the Southwest have become a tinderbox for wildfires as the region faces extremely dry or prolonged drought conditions. At least seven wildfires are burning across the state, where officials have been challenged by one of the most severe wildfire seasons in recent memory.
The weather also helped fuel another blaze that sparked Saturday and destroyed 21 structures near the mountain community of Estes Park. Investigators were determining whether it started in a cabin or as a wildfire before moving toward the homes, according to the Denver Post.
"Even though we lost 21 (structures), which is a huge tragedy, we saved many homes because of firefighters' efforts," Estes Park Fire Chief Scott Dorman told evacuees.
A separate fire continued burning near Fort Collins, scorching more than 118 square miles and destroying at least 191 homes. That blaze has become the largest and most expensive in Colorado history.
Elsewhere in the West, firefighters made progress against wildfires in Utah, New Mexico and California.
? In Utah, about 2,300 residents were allowed to return to their homes Saturday after officials determined a wildfire no longer posed a threat to homes near Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain. Officials believe that fire was started Thursday by target shooters. A second major fire has burned 16,500-acres of high desert near the central Utah town of Delta.
? In California, a wildfire about 60 miles north of Los Angeles triggered evacuations of campgrounds around an off-road recreation area on Saturday. Ventura County fire officials said the fire has blackened at least 400 acres in the Hungry Valley State Vehicular Recreation Area, along the Interstate 5 corridor in Gorman.
? In New Mexico, a lightning-caused wildfire that destroyed 242 homes and businesses is 90 percent contained after heavy rain Friday. The 69-square-mile fire near Ruidoso began June 4. Meanwhile, the largest wildfire in state history was 87 percent contained. It has burned more than 464 square miles after two blazes merged on May 16.
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