SUNRISE EDITION: Firefighters battling blazes in El Paso, Teller counties

Firefighters hope to get on top of fires burning more than 6,500 acres in El Paso and Teller counties today, but they won't be helped by Mother Nature.

Temperatures are expected to again reach near-record levels in the 70s today and it will be windy with low humidity. Those are the worst conditions for trying to control wildfires.

A 6,500-acre blaze that started on Fort Carson and raced eastward is still mostly uncontained, and a 42-acre blaze at the National Fossil Beds near Florissant in Teller County also poses some danger, considering the weather forecast. That fire, however, was 50-percent contained this morning, a Teller County dispatcher said.

Read the story about the Carson fire here.

HAPPENINGS

-- Talk by local author Lance Williams, 6-7:30 p.m., Venue 515, 515 Manitou Ave., Manitou Springs, free.

-- "Positive Health Benefits of Pets for the Elderly," presented by Non-Practicing and Part-Time Nurses' Association, 6:30-9 p.m., Immanuel Lutheran Church, 846 E. Pikes Peak Ave.

-- Jonathan Lethem, novelist, "2008-2009 Colorado College Visiting Writers Series," 7 p.m., Colorado College, Armstrong Theatre, 14 E. Cache La Poudre St., free.

-- Swing, latin and ballroom dance classes, 7:30-8:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Downtown YMCA, 207 N. Nevada Ave., $40/single, $50/couple for members, $60/single, $85/couple for nonmembers, includes four classes.