Thick, black smoke rolls across a road near Ordway, Colo., during a grass fire whipped by high winds into a massive blaze that destroyed homes and fields in and around the small southeastern Colorado town on Tuesday. April 15, 2008. 12:44 a.m. ET, 4/16/08
Colorado Wildfires Kill 3, Force Evacuation of 1,100
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
ORDWAY, Colo. — Wildfires in warm, windy weather burned into a southeast Colorado town and on an Army post Tuesday, and a firefighting pilot and two other people died.
All 1,100 residents of the town of Ordway were told to leave because of a fire that burned across 7,100 acres, or 11 square miles, authorities said. By 9 p.m. Tuesday, firefighters had contained about 50 percent of the fire, which damaged at least 20 buildings, four within town town limits, fire spokesman Chris Sorensen said.
Crowley County sheriff's deputy Bill Hamilton said late Tuesday he didn't immediately have details on the two deaths.
The pilot died when the crop duster-type plane crashed along a highway just east of Fort Carson, said Mike Fergus of the Federal Aviation Administration. A fire there had burned about 9,000 acres, or 14 square miles.
The Army said some evacuations were forced by the fire near Fort Carson, about 60 miles south of Denver. A shelter was being set up at a special events center on base, Capt. Gregory Dorman said.
One state highway was closed. The cause of that fire hadn't been determined.
Much of the state was under a National Weather Service red flag warning, signifying high fire danger. Gov. Bill Ritter declared a state of emergency, freeing up state resources to help fight the fire.
On the southeastern plains around Ordway, winds were gusting to 50 mph, humidity was low and temperatures reached into the 80s. Dry conditions on the plains and in some mountain valleys contrasted with deep snow at higher elevations.
Two state highways were closed to the town, 122 miles southeast of Denver.
READ MORE ABOUT THESE DANGEROUS FIRES...
3 comments:
Nanc of "It's Curtains For You" has friends in Ordway, they had to flee. Sad!
tmw
Hi TMW, Glad to hear from you. Yes, Colorado has a lot of dry hills and brush and wind like Southern California. So a fire can be devastating. I hope Nanc's friends are OK.
They got out, their home and possessions, unknown.
Good morning, G*D bless and Maranatha!
tmw
BTW-There was a 5.4 earthquake early this morning not too far from my blogger big brother and his wife...interesting, and perilous times!
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