Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Colo. wildfire kills one; 900 homes ordered evacuated

By msnbc.com staff and news services

CONIFER, Colo. -- One person was killed in a Colorado wildfire that burned more than four-and-a-half square miles and destroyed at least five homes in the mountains southwest of Denver, authorities said Monday.

The victim's name wasn't immediately released and investigators haven't said how the person died.



The fast-moving wildfire was reported at midday Monday and spread quickly amid dry, windy weather.

Authorities ordered residents of more than 900 homes to evacuate.

"We're in a defensive mode, structure protection only," Jefferson County Sheriff's spokeswoman Jacki Kelley said. "We're not really fighting the fire right now."

Kelley said authorities don't know how many houses were lost but said it was at least five and could be more than 20, The Denver Post reported.

Fire personnel from 30 engine companies and different agencies were assembled to battle the blaze, authorities said.

There were no other reports of injuries, but a sheriff's deputy who was alerting residents to leave was trapped in his patrol car after he inadvertently drove into a ditch in the thick smoke, Kelley said. He summoned help by radio.

Single-digit humidity values, winds blowing at 40 to 50 miles per hour and a lack of snowfall during the past month put most of eastern Colorado under a red-flag warning for high fire danger on Monday, the National Weather Service said.

The high winds also had prompted flight delays at Denver International Airport.

Steve Segin, spokesman for the Rocky Mountain Coordination Center, said air tankers had been on alert for the past week in anticipation of extreme wildfire hazards in Colorado, but the gusty winds had grounded the fleet.

"There is really not much that can be done from the air until the winds subside," he said.

Up to a dozen smaller fires were reported from the northeast Colorado plains to the southern part of the state. There were no immediate reports of injuries or structures destroyed in any of the other fires.

Officials were calling in help from as far away as Arizona and hoped to be able to have air tankers drop fire retardant on the flames Tuesday.

Msnbc.com staff, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/27/10880041-colo-wildfire-kills-one-900-homes-ordered-evacuated

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