Authorities issued an evacuation order for 19,400 people near a fast-moving wildfire in Colorado.
Thousands of Colorado residents were issued evacuation orders over the weekend as wildfires again swept the Boulder area, just months after blazes destroyed almost entire neighborhoods less than 20 miles from Denver.
The fire originated near National Center for Atmospheric Research, threatening the south border neighborhoods. Nearly 20,000 people were told to leave their homes on Saturday, but most of the orders were lifted later that night.
As of Sunday afternoon, the fire was 35 percent contained and only 1,629 people remained under an evacuation order. Authorities said firefighters in the air and on the ground battled a 122-acre wildfire threatening neighborhoods on the southwestern edge of the city and forcing thousands of people to evacuate.
The wind-driven wildfire, which came less than three months after the deadly Marshall fire destroyed more than 1,000 homes in Boulder County, had not burned any structures or led to any injuries.
Firefighters had not achieved any containment of what has been named the NCAR fire, but by nightfall expressed optimism that a shift in the weather would bring favorable conditions.
Marya Washburn, Boulder Fire-Rescue spokesperson, said: “About 1,600 to 1,900 homes remained in the evacuation area, down from 8,000 homes.”
According to the Boulder Office of Emergency Management, the fire was affecting 189 acres. Mike Smith, incident commander for the City of Boulder Fire Rescue said no injuries or structural damages were reported as more than 100 firefighters continued to contain the blaze.
Smith explained: “One of the things we learned from the Marshall Fire was how to rapidly escalate and integrate multiple agencies and get them to work together and I think we had a much more seamless process this time.”
When comparing the fires, he said: “It’s a few apples and oranges. Just because of the wind speed and location.”
Mr. Smith said authorities were investigating the cause and exact location saying: “The intensity of this fire, in a few places, was pretty high, but for the most part this is a pretty low-intensity fire.”
Authorities said: “Emergency operations were activated and wireless emergency alerts were sent to all cellphones within a 1/4-mile radius of NCAR.”
Governor Jared Polis said: “We’re grateful to emergency response teams for a successful deployment of aircraft and the state continues to support a strong aerial response to protect the safety of communities under evacuation orders.”
According to scientists making the U.S. West warmer and drier in the past 30 years will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more destructive.
Alicia Miller whose home was torched in the blaze last year said her neighbors helped her escape along with her husband, Craig, their three adult sons, and two dogs, Ginger and Chloe.
She said the hardest losses from the blaze were things they didn’t look at much, like baby shoes, family pictures, and letters from her grandmother.
Miller said: “I feel exhausted by all of this, and I just feel like enough as far as these fires and disasters… So, I’m standing there and it’s just kind of a repeat.”
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