Forest fire (illustrative)
Forest fire (illustrative)Israel news photo: Flash 90

More than 3,600 people have been evacuated as a wildfire in east central Colorado burned quickly through dry timber Tuesday.

Low humidity, high temperatures and fast wind gusts helped the fire grow quickly to 400 acres and caused officials to issue evacuation orders for more than 2,500 homes, CNN reported.

"We have some folks that were having difficulty," said El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa.

"We are focused on our elderly population that may have difficulty moving, and people trying to move animals out. It has gone from an evac to somewhat of a search and rescue," he said.

Later Tuesday, the sheriff's office tweeted that 1,260 homes have been evacuated.

Maketa said that some people who had originally indicated they wouldn't evacuate had called to ask for help, CNN reported.

There have been no reported fatalities, he said, though a handful of homes have burned.