FORT COLLINS - Hotels were filling up with evacuees, rafting companies were forced to shut down and power outages added to the misery Monday as the High Park Fire burned out of control.
Nearly 900 Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association customers were without power. Residents in the Rist Canyon, lower Poudre Canyon and upper Buckhorn Canyon areas were affected by the outages.

"Some of those are due to infrastructure burning down," said Ric Soulen, spokesman for the electrical cooperative. "Some of it's due to the fire command asking us to de-energize some lines for the safety of the firefighters."

The fire had burned an estimated 36,930 acres by mid-morning Monday and continued to grow, according to authorities. More than 100 structures were either damaged or destroyed.

Firefighters saved one electrical substation near the mouth of the Poudre Canyon from burning, Soulen said. Authorities also have worked to save communications infrastructure on Buckhorn Mountain.

"As soon as they tell us whether we can get in there, repair and re-energize those lines, of course we'll be on it," Soulen said.

KUNC was knocked off the air on its frequency, 91.5 FM.