America: Hundreds of houses burnt in Colorado wildfire, thousands flee

Thousands of Coloradans were driven out of their neighborhoods by wind-ravaged wildfires. They waited anxiously to find out what was left of their lives after houses, a hotel and a shopping center were engulfed in flames.

Read also | ‘leave now!’ Forecasters warn of fires in Colorado due to gusts of wind

A fire broke out outside Denver on Thursday, after an extremely dry fall and a nearly snow-free winter so far.

At least one first responder and six others were injured, and the sheriff says there could be more.

“We can have our own New Year’s miracle on our hands if it assumes that there was no loss of life. We know that many people had only a few minutes to evacuate and if it was attended by all affected families. was successfully withdrawn – it’s really a testament to preparedness and emergency response,” Governor Jared Polis said at a news conference on Friday.

Pele, who gave initial damage estimates, said there could be more injuries – and deaths – due to the intensity of the fire, propelled by winds up to 105 mph (169 kph).

“We can’t fight this kind of fire face to face,” Pele said. “We actually had deputy sheriffs and firefighters in those areas that had to be pulled out because they were just over.”

Mike Guanella and his family were relaxing at their home in downtown Superior and hoping to celebrate late Christmas later, when reports of a fire in the nearby grass ordered to leave immediately.

Instead of opening presents, Guanella and his wife, their three children and three dogs were staying at a friend’s house in Denver, in the hope that their home was still standing.

“Those gifts are still under the tree – we hope so,” he said.

By the first light of Friday, flames had lit up the night sky, leaving smoldering homes and burning trees and fields. The winds had stopped, and a light snow soon began to fall, raising hopes that it could smother the warm spots.

Sofia Verrucci and her partner, Tony Victor, returned to their apartment on the edge of Superior in Broomfield to find that it had avoided any serious damage. They had eloped the previous afternoon with Victor’s guitar, bed and his cat, Seor Gato Blanco.

“We left thinking it was a joke. We just felt like we were going to be back. At 5, we thought, maybe we’re not coming back,” Verrucci said. But he got an email in the morning saying it was ok to go back.

“Seeing the news and seeing all the houses burning down, we feel so lucky,” Verucci said.

The neighboring cities of Louisville and Superior are located about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Denver and home to a combined 34,000 people were ordered to evacuate before the fire left a smoke billowing over the landscape. Colored, orange haze was cast.

The two cities are filled with middle- and upper-middle-class subdivisions with shopping centers, parks, and schools. This area is between Denver and Boulder, which is home to the University of Colorado.

Residents evacuated quite peacefully and orderly, but the winding roads quickly became jammed. Sometimes it took up to 45 minutes for cars to move half a mile.

Small fires pop up here and there in astonishing places—on the grass in the middle or in a dumpster in the middle of a parking lot—as gusts fanned the flames. The sky changed from clear to smoky as the winds changed and then back again when the sirens sounded.

Leah Angstman and her husband were returning to their Louisville home from Denver International Airport after being away for the holidays. He left the clear blue sky and immediately entered clouds of brown and yellow smoke.

“The wind shook the bus so hard that I thought the bus would overturn,” she said.

Visibility was so poor that the bus had to overturn. They waited for half an hour until a transit authority van diverted the bus onto the highway.

“The sky was dark, dark gray, and the dirt was scurrying across the sidewalk like snakes,” she said.

Vignesh Kashinath, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Colorado, was evacuated from a neighborhood of Superior with his wife and his parents.

“It is only because I am active on Twitter that I came to know about this,” said Kashinath, who said he had not received the evacuation notice from the authorities.

The sheriff said the first fire started just before 10:30 a.m. and was “attacked very early and covered up later in the day”, with no structures lost. A second fire, reported after 11 a.m., ballooned and spread rapidly, Pele said, covering at least 2.5 square miles (6.5 square kilometers).

Officials said some of the many blasts in the area were caused by power lines being snapped.

Scientists say that climate change is making the weather worse and forest fires are becoming more and more destructive.

Colorado’s Front Range, where most of the state’s population lives, had extremely dry and mild winters, and the winter has been mostly dry so far. Denver set a record for consecutive days without snow before a minor storm hit on December 10, its last snowfall before wildfires.

Ninety-nine percent of Boulder County is in severe or extreme drought, and hasn’t seen enough rainfall since mid-summer.

“With any snow on the ground, it wouldn’t have happened exactly the way it did,” said snow hydrologist Keith Musselman.

Guanella said he heard from a firefighter friend that his house was still standing Thursday night. But he could only wait and watch.

“You’re just waiting to hear if your favorite restaurant is standing still, if the schools your kids go to are still standing,” he said. “You’re just waiting to get some clarity.”