Fire grows in Colorado foothills
BAILEY, Colo. (AP) – A 2,400-acre wildfire sent thick smoke across wooded foothills southwest of Denver on Thursday as firefighters labored in cooler weather to protect hundreds of homes. Cloud cover, lighter winds and lower temperatures provided relief for about 250 firefighters building lines around the blaze.
“We’re making hay,” said Mike Frederick, who heads a 20-member hot shot crew from Wilmington, Ill.
Smoke dropped visibility at times to less than one-quarter mile in the area 35 miles southwest of Denver. A barn and a shed were destroyed, but there were no reported injuries. Some 400 people remained out of their homes.
Elsewhere in the West, firefighters also made progress on wildfires in New Mexico and Arizona.
The Colorado fire broke out Tuesday in tinder-dry ponderosa, grass and brush. Whipped by winds, it spread quickly and doubled in size Wednesday night.
The entire town of 4,400 people was evacuated Wednesday afternoon and four schools were closed when flames crept to within a quarter-mile of downtown. Three schools remained closed Thursday.
Most residents were allowed back in their homes by nightfall when cooler weather eased the fire threat, but the sheriff’s department said many areas were without electricity or water.
The fire started in an area popular with smokers. No arrests have been made.
Regional forester Rick Cables said the blaze was the top-priority wildfire in the nation.
A winter drought has plagued much of the West, triggering an early start to the wildfire season.
In central New Mexico, firefighters mopped up hot spots from a 300-acre fire in the Magdalena Mountains. In Arizona, a 1,000-acre fire in the Baboquivari Wilderness southwest of Tucson was nearly contained.
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On the Net: Interagency Fire Center: http://www.nifc.gov