Western Wildfires Reappear

Crews worked through the night to slow a smoky, wind-whipped wildfire that consumed 600 acres of timber and grass and threatened dozens of houses.

About 120 firefighters were expected to arrive Thursday to help 70 already battling the blaze near Carter Lake, in rugged hills about 40 miles northwest of Denver.

No injuries were reported. Residents said at least one house burned, but incident commander Don Griffith said he could not confirm that any structures were lost.

Up to 50 houses were threatened and 15 to 20 have been evacuated, said Erik Nilsson of Larimer County Emergency Management. At least eight people checked into a shelter at a Berthoud high school Wednesday night.

The fire has been helped along by unusually dry and warm weather and by powerful wind gusts, which reached 50 mph on Wednesday.

Crews used bulldozers and fire trucks to fight the flames Wednesday but were unable to establish fire lines. "With the winds, that has been a losing battle," Griffith said.

Griffith said frantic homeowners were wetting down their yards with hoses or chopping down trees to try to stop flames from creeping toward houses.

The cause of the fire had not been determined. It was first reported at about 1 p.m. as just a tree on fire, and at one point, it doubled in size to 300 to 400 acres in only 45 minutes, Griffith said.

A second fire burned 800 to 1,000 acres of grassland west of Wellington in Larimer County on Wednesday. No structures were threatened.

By P. Solomon Banda
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