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Governor Jared Polis has declared a state of emergency as the National Weather Service has warned that “life is in danger” in the affected areas of the United States.
Tens of thousands of residents of two communities in the U.S. state of Colorado have been evacuated after wind-blown forest fires engulfed smoky, orange-colored parts of the sky and destroyed hundreds of homes.
Louisville’s 21,000 residents were told to evacuate Thursday after 13,000 people were ordered to leave the Superior.
The adjacent town is located 32 km (20 miles) northwest of the state capital of Denver, which has a population of over 715,000.
There was a horrible smoke coming from the Denver fires. A photo of Reuters news agency also showed several buildings burning in a Boulder neighborhood of Superior.
A state sheriff said 580 homes, a hotel and a shopping mall were burned.
Governor Jared Polis declared a state of emergency to assist in emergency response efforts to use disaster financing and to properly mobilize the Colorado National Guard and other state resources.
A portion of the U.S. highway was also closed as a result of a fire.
In the area where the fire was in the northwest, the wind began to blow at a speed of 169 kilometers per hour (105 miles per hour).
Feeding very strong winds #marshallfire. It’s never a good sign when the radar shows such a powerful plume of smoke.
Please note all evacuations associated with this fire. Continue @BoulderOEM for recent evacuations and official fire information. #COwx pic.twitter.com/EzYy80xOBd
– NWS Boulder (@NWSBoulder) December 30, 2021
The National Weather Service (NWS) said in a social media post that smaller fires were also reported in at least two areas.
The weather agency warned that the rapidly moving fires were creating a “life-threatening situation” in some areas.
A mandatory evacuation has been ordered in all areas of Louisville except two counties, according to the police department.
Six people injured in the blaze were being treated at UC Health Broomfield Hospital, an Associated Press news agency told a hospital spokesman.
The extent of the loss of property was not immediately known, but at least one news outlet reported images of a house engulfed in fire near Louisville.
Fires outside the metropolitan area of Denver were hit hard by an extreme drought that hit eastern Colorado after several heavy snowfalls in the western Rocky Mountains.
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