Colorado wildfires: tens of thousands evacuated as blazes destroy hundreds of homes

Tens of thousands of residents were forced to flee in northern Colorado after fast-moving wildfires destroyed an estimated 600 homes.

Over 30,000 residents across three communities outside Denver had to evacuate their homes after wind-fueled grass fires rapidly burned through multiple buildings including a hotel and Target shopping complex, along with 580 homes.

The fires erupted Thursday outside Denver, following an extremely dry fall and a winter so far nearly devoid of snow.

“We might have our very own new year’s miracle on our hands if it holds up that there was no loss of life,” Governor Jared Polis said at a news conference on Friday, hours after declaring a state of emergency.

“We know that many people had just minutes to evacuate and if that was successfully pulled off by all of the affected families – that’s really quite a testimony to preparedness and emergency response.”

At least one first responder and six other people were injured in the fires. According to Boulder county sheriff Joe Pelle, there could be more injuries – and deaths – because of the intensity of the fires, propelled by winds that gusted up to 105mph. Pelle said downed power lines were suspected to have caused wildfires.

“This is the kind of fire we can’t fight head-on,” Pelle said. “We actually had deputy sheriffs and firefighters in areas that had to pull out because they just got overrun.”

Pelle said on Friday that there were still some active fires and asked residents not to return home unless they had been told it was safe to do so.

The towns of Louisville and Superior, situated about 20 miles (32km) north-west of Denver and home to a combined 34,000 people, were ordered evacuated ahead of the fires, which cast a smoky, orange haze over the landscape.

Mike Guanella and his family were relaxing at their home in Superior and looking forward to celebrating a belated Christmas later in when reports of a nearby grass fire quickly gave way to an order to leave immediately.

Instead of opening presents, Guanella and his wife, their three children and three dogs were staying a friend’s house in Denver, hoping their house was still standing.

“Those presents are still under the tree right now – we hope,” he told the Associated Press.

By first light Friday, the towering flames that had lit up the night sky were gone, leaving smoldering homes and charred trees and fields. The winds had died down, and light snow soon began falling, raising hopes it could snuff out hot spots.

The White House released a readout of a call between Joe Biden and Polis on Friday, which said the president “assured him that every effort will be made to provide immediate help to people in the impacted communities”.

Sophia Verucchi and her partner, Tony Victor, returned to their apartment in Broomfield, on the edge of Superior, on Friday to find that it was spared any serious damage. They had fled the previous afternoon with just Victor’s guitar, bedding and their cat, Senor Gato Blanco.

“We left thinking it was a joke. We just felt like we were going to come back. At 5 o’clock, we thought, maybe we’re not coming back,” Verucchi said. They got an email Friday morning saying it was OK to return.

“Seeing the news and seeing all the houses burnt, we just feel very lucky,” Verucchi said.

Polis had warned onlookers to stay away from the fires, saying: “Don’t head towards the fires looking to see them. We are getting reports of clogged roads from onlookers. Also, it’s very dangerous. Stay clear of the areas with fires and let our firefighters and first responders do their work.”

According to the National Weather Service, strong winds downed power lines and overturned big-rigs in the area. More than 24,000 people lost power during the windstorm. Some residents were unable to open their garage doors while attempting to evacuate.

Ninety-percent of Boulder county is in severe or extreme drought, and it hasn’t seen substantial rainfall since mid-summer. “With any snow on the ground, this absolutely would not have happened in the way that it did,” said snow hydrologist Keith Musselman.

On Friday morning, local authorities lifted mandatory evacuation orders that were issued on Thursday afternoon for residents outside of Boulder county, including those in Broomfield and Westminster, as cooler temperatures and lighter winds slowed down the wildfire.

Snow was expected in Denver on Friday, along with a 70% chance of precipitation later on in the day. Meteorologists forecast that 2022 will begin with temperatures falling into the single digits in the area, with the weather warming up on Monday.

Frank Cooper, a National Weather Service meteorologist, told the Denver Post that the snow will help settle the first when it arrives, but that winds are expected to reach 10 to 15 mph, which will trap the smoke from the fire.

“There’s just a lot of smoke and haze around this morning and that’s not going to go away,” he said.

• Associated Press contributed to this report