Colorado wildfire levels 104 homes, officials say
DENVER — More than 100 homes in the Colorado mountains were destroyed by a growing wildfire, while hundreds of others across the parched West remained under evacuations Tuesday and the closure of recreation areas derailed holiday plans.
Authorities announced late Monday that a fire near Fort Garland, about 205 miles southwest of Denver, had destroyed 104 homes in a mountain housing development started by multimillionaire publisher Malcolm Forbes in the 1970s. The damage toll could rise because the burn area is still being surveyed.
The fire, called the Spring Fire, was one of six large wildfires burning in Colorado and the largest at 123 square miles. While investigators believe it was started by a spark from a fire pit, other fires, like one that began burning near Fairplay, were started by lightning.
Nearly 60 large blazes were burning across the West, including nine in New Mexico and six each in California and Utah, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
In Utah, authorities have evacuated 200 to 300 homes because of a growing wildfire near a fishing reservoir southeast of Salt Lake City amid hot temperatures and high winds. Several structures have been lost since the fire started Sunday, but it’s unclear how many, said Jason Curry of the Utah Division of Forest, Fire and State Lands.
Darren Lewis and his extended family planned to spend the Fourth of July at a cabin built nearly 50 years ago by his father and uncle in a wilderness area that is nestled between canyons and sits near a mountain river.
Instead, Lewis and his family will spend the holiday nervously waiting to hear if a half-century of family memories go up in smoke because of the fire, which has grown to 47 square miles.
“There’s a lot of history and memories that go into this cabin,” said Lewis, 44, of Magna, Utah. “The cabin we could rebuild, but the trees that we love would be gone. We’re just hoping that the wind blows the other way.”
Meanwhile, a wind-fueled wildfire in Northern California that continues to send a thick layer of smoke and ash as far as south of San Francisco was threatening more than 900 buildings.
The massive blaze was choking skies with ash and smoke, prompting some officials to cancel Fourth of July fireworks shows and urge people to stay indoors to protect themselves from the unhealthy air.
At least 2,500 people have been told to evacuate as the sprawling blaze continues to spread, said Anthony Brown, a spokesman with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Brown said the blaze that started Saturday and was surging through rugged terrain northwest of Sacramento had grown to 109 square miles. It was 5 percent contained.