Colorado wildfires burn hundreds of homes, forcing evacuations
DENVER (AP) – An estimated 580 homes, a hotel and a shopping center have burned and tens of thousands of people have to be evacuated in the wind-powered wildfires outside Denver, officials said. said on Thursday night.
At least one first responder and six others were injured, although Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle acknowledged there could be more injuries and possible deaths due to the intensity of the fire rapidly sweeping through the area. when gusts of up to 105 mph (169 km/h)).
The fire first broke out shortly before 10:30 a.m. and “was hit pretty quickly and resettled later in the day and is currently being monitored” with no structures lost, Pelle said.
A second wildfire, reported shortly after 11 a.m., “breaks out and spreads rapidly eastward,” Pelle said. The blaze spanned 2.5 square miles (6.5 square kilometers) and engulfed parts of the area in a thick, smoky sky and left residents scrambling to get to safety.
The behavior of the fires, which burn irregularly in late winter, will depend on how winds are acting overnight and could determine when crews can go in and begin assessing damage and looking for any damage. any victim.
“This is the kind of fire that we can’t confront directly,” Pelle said. “We actually have sheriffs and firefighters in areas that have to retreat because they’ve just been overrun,” he added.
The city of Louisville, with a population of about 21,000, was ordered to evacuate after residents of Superior, which has 13,000 residents, were told to leave. Nearby towns are about 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Denver.
Several fires started in the area on Thursday, at least some sparked by collapsed power lines.
Spokesperson Kelli Christensen said six people injured in the fire were being treated at UCHealth Broomfield Hospital. A nearby section of US Highway 36 was also closed.
Colorado’s Front Range, where most of the state’s population lives, has had an extremely dry and mild fall, and winters have so far continued to be mostly dry. However, snow is expected on Friday in the area.
A video taken by an outsider outside a Superior Costco store shows the apocalypse with winds blowing through barren trees in a parking lot surrounded by gray skies, a dim sun and clouds. Small fires scattered on the ground.
Leah Angstman and her husband saw similar dark skies when returning to their Louisville home from Denver International Airport from vacation. As they were sitting on the bus heading toward Boulder, Angstman recalls immediately leaving the clear blue sky and entering clouds of brown and yellow smoke.
“The wind shook the bus so hard that I thought the bus would overturn,” she wrote in a message to the Associated Press.
-
Smoke from a wildfire rises in the background, Thursday, December 30, 2021, in Superior, Colo. All 13,000 residents of the northern Colorado town were ordered to evacuate Thursday because of a wildfire caused by strong winds. (AP Photo / David Zelio) -
A Brookfield Police officer directs motorists along the Flatiron Crossing Drive of the Flatiron Crossing Mall as a wildfire burns near the mall on Thursday, December 30, 2021, near Broomfield, Colo. . Homes around the center are being evacuated as wildfires spread through grasslands and high winds rake the West. (AP Photo / David Zalubowski) -
Smoke from the wildfire rises into the air north of Denver on Thursday, December 30, 2021. Thousands of residents in two communities near Denver were ordered to evacuate Thursday because of the wildfires engulfed by winds. parts of the area in a smoky sky. (AP Photo / Peter Orsi) -
Firefighters spray water on the fire of a structure as a wildfire breaks out, Thursday, December 30, 2021, in Superior, Colo. Thousands of residents in Superior and Louisville, two communities near Denver, were ordered to evacuate Thursday because a wind-powered wildfire engulfed parts of the area in a smoky sky. (AP Photo / David Zelio) -
A fire truck moves through the parking lot of the Flatiron Crossing Shopping Center as a wildfire burns near the mall Thursday, December 30, 2021, near Broomfield, Colo. Homes around the mall were being evacuated as wildfires raced through grasslands as high winds blew through intermountain West. (AP Photo / David Zalubowski)
Visibility was so poor that the bus pulled over and they waited for half an hour until a regional transit truck escorted them to the turn on the highway. There she saw four separate fires burning in the bushes across the freeway, she said.
“The sky was dark, dark brown, and the dust swirled across the pavement like snakes,” she said.
Angstman then ended up evacuating, got in the car with her husband, and drove northeast with no idea where they were going.
Vignesh Kasinath, an assistant professor of biochemistry at the University of Colorado at Boulder, evacuated a neighborhood in Superior with his wife and her parents. Kasinath said the family was overwhelmed by the sudden evacuation warning and worried about the chaos while trying to leave.
“Only because I am active on Twitter did I know about this,” said Kasinath, who said he did not receive an official evacuation notice from authorities.
The fire prompted Governor Jared Polis to declare a state of emergency, giving the state access to disaster emergency funds.
Evacuations happen as climate change is doing more severe weather and more frequent and more destructive wildfires, the scientists said. ONE historical drought and heat waves have made wildfires harder to fight in the western United States.
https://kfor.com/news/u-s-world/colorado-wildfires-burn-hundreds-of-homes-force-evacuations/ Colorado wildfires burn hundreds of homes, forcing evacuations
