Wind-blown Colorado fire destroys hundreds of homes, displaces thousands

By Keith Coffman

DENVER (Reuters) – A strong wind blast has destroyed hundreds of homes, injured at least half a dozen people and evacuated tens of thousands of people in and around the Rockies near Denver, authorities said on Thursday. .

The rapidly spreading grass on the beaches was believed to have been ignited by sparks from power lines and transformers blown by the high winds in the front row of Colorado’s drought, according to Boulder County Sheriff Joe Peller.

The evacuation orders were first issued to all residents of the town of Superior, Colorado, for the first time, and to the nearby town of Louisville, where more than 18,000 people live, the Boulder County Emergency Management Office reported. Twitter (NYSE :).

Separately, the Boulder National Weather Service office tweeted, “All the tops under the Evacuation ORDER. GET OUT NOW!”

Within hours, the fire engulfed about 1,600 acres (647.5 acres) and destroyed more than 500 homes, Pell told reporters at a news conference.

He said a total of 370 homes were set on fire in the Superior West, and 210 homes were lost in the Superior Old Town area, along with additional housing in the area. Property losses also included a shopping mall and a hotel in Superior, authorities said.

Governor Jared Polis said the flames were consuming football pitches in a matter of seconds, and said it was “a force of nature.”

The sheriff said the strong winds made it impossible to stop the rapid advance of the fire, adding that the fire and emergency personnel were “basically trying to get people off the road. That’s all you can do.”

Pell said tens of thousands of people in the area were under evacuation orders.

Among them were about 30 patients, along with staff, from Avista (NYSE 🙂 Adventist Hospital in Louisville, which was closed in the late afternoon and completely evacuated, according to the Centura Health medical network. Some patients were discharged. The rest were taken to other hospitals in Centura.

The sheriff said he had no news of the missing persons and had not reported any deaths.

Six people were treated at the UCHealth Hospital in the nearby town of Broomfield for their fire injuries, spokeswoman Kelli Christensen said. But he did not want to specify the nature of the injuries or the condition of the patients.

The details of the property loss were not immediately known, but KMGH-TV, a local affiliate of ABC News, provided images of several homes that were set on fire.

A huge plume of smoke from the fire was seen in Denver, about 20 miles (32 miles) south.

Wind gusts of up to 110 miles (177 km) per hour were reported in Boulder, according to the National Weather Service, which said the moving fires were creating a “life-threatening situation” in the Superior and Louisville areas.

Authorities said the forecast called for a reduction in winds on Thursday night or early Friday morning, which would allow firefighters to get out before the fire and deploy helicopters and tankers that drop water against the fire.

Polis declared a state of emergency to use emergency funding to help with emergency response efforts in Boulder County and to properly mobilize the Colorado National Guard and other state resources.

A fire on the outskirts of the metropolitan area of ​​Denver was hit hard by an extreme drought that hit eastern Colorado after several heavy snowfalls in the western Rocky Mountains. However, the forecast is for snowfall in eastern Denver and Colorado from Friday.