LOS ANGELES, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- Rocky Mountain National Park, one of the most visited national parks located in the western U.S. state of Colorado, is closing to visitors as a massive wildfire rages on nearby, authorities said Thursday.

All of Rocky Mountain National Park "is closing to park visitors due to fire activity on the west side of the Continental Divide," said the park in an alert.

"If conditions allow, an Infrared flight is planned to gauge where there is current fire activity. This is a rapidly evolving situation," the alert noted, adding that air quality is currently hazardous within the park.

The blaze has entered the park from the southwest, prompting evacuations of hundreds of local residents.

The destructive fire, dubbed the East Troublesome Fire, began on Oct. 14 and grew to 125,602 acres (around 508 square km) by Thursday with only 5 percent contained. It is now the fourth-largest wildfire in the state's history.

Fire activity of the wildfire increased substantially in the late afternoon and into the evening on Wednesday. A combination of weather, terrain, and beetle-killed lodgepole pine contributed to the significant fire growth that was seen overnight, according to the latest data updated by InciWeb, an interstate incident information system. Enditem

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