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Wildfires sweep through Colorado grasslands forcing evacuations
Wind-driven wildfires swept across Boulder County grasslands on Wednesday, destroying at least four structures and prompting mandatory evacuations of at least 500 homes.
- AP
- Published: 09:23 January 8, 2009
Boulder, Colorado: Wind-driven wildfires swept across Boulder County grasslands on Wednesday, destroying at least four structures and prompting mandatory evacuations of at least 500 homes.
Residents were ordered to leave more than 500 homes on the north side of Boulder, county spokeswoman Barbara Halpin said. At least one other neighbourhood north of the city was evacuated, but the number of homes wasn't immediately known.
Sheriff's Cmdr. Phil West said two firefighters suffered minor injuries.
The Red Cross said at least 100 people went to one emergency shelter. Authorities said more than 11,000 homes had been alerted to the fire by telephone calls, but not all of those households were told to leave.
"At this point we don't anticipate rescinding the evacuation order until sometime tomorrow morning," West told KDVR-TV. "There's still too many hot spots, too many places where the fire could flare up again if the wind changes."
The fires started in parched, rolling grasslands dotted with subdivisions, individual homes and horse ranches about 40 kilometres northwest of Denver.
Authorities said at least three of the destroyed structures were homes, and the fourth was either a barn or a home.
West said the fire apparently started when winds knocked down a power line.
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