Colorado wildfire emergency declared; hundreds evacuated

In Park County, Colorado, fire officials say 3,500 acres have been burned

June 13, 2000
Web posted at: 2:59 p.m. EDT (1859 GMT)

In this story: Evacuees have little time to clear out Worst fire season start since 1996 RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

PARK COUNTY, Colorado -- Citing the danger from wildfires that have already forced hundreds of people to flee their homes, Colorado Governor Bill Owens declared a state-wide emergency Tuesday. The order came as a pair of wildfires continued to burn out of control in the state's pine-covered foothills.

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More than 5,500 acres have burned amid dry and gusty weather in the area.

No injuries were reported.

In Park County, about 35 miles southwest of Denver, fire officials said 3,500 acres had been burned, destroying at least five homes or other structures near the community of Bailey. Residents of 15 neighborhoods were told to evacuate Tuesday morning.

In Larimer County, about 50 miles northwest of Denver, another 2,000 acres of land had been burned and at least two buildings lost. As many as 200 homes were threatened by the fire, near a subdivision in the mountains west of Loveland.

Hundreds of firefighters were assigned to the two wind-driven blazes, which fed on hot, dry conditions. Smoke from both blazes hung over parts of the Denver metropolitan area.

Red Cross shelters were set up near both fires.

Houses caught fire in Park County, Colorado, while the threat to more homes continued

Near Bailey, about 180 girls and employees at a Girl Scout camp were moved out Monday as a precaution, as authorities ordered 300 to 400 people out of the area.

The blaze, known locally as the Hi Meadow fire, exploded Monday as winds of more than 20 mph pushed flames from treetop to treetop, leaving many in the scattered mountain neighborhoods with little time to gather their belongings.

The flames drew within 50 yards of David Wortman as he and his wife loaded their horses into a trailer, hitched it to their pickup and fled with their dog. They could feel the heat inside the truck.

"Once I saw the flames that close, we had to get out," he said. "I couldn't stand between my house and the flames, it was that hot."

Firefighters were ordered to protect buildings first and think about containment second, said Doug Lee, a spokesman for a multiagency fire-management group.

Through the night, the flames moved below the crowns of the trees, allowing ground crews to begin working on containment, night incident commander Brad Ruder said. He said a cold front that moved through the area at midnight helped calm the blaze.

The number of burned homes near Bailey was expected to rise. Authorities described flames jetting from exposed natural gas pipes.

The fire was moving away from the Flying G camp, but officials evacuated 140 girls and 38 staffers as a precaution, said Rachelle Trujillo, a spokeswoman for the Girl Scouts' Mile High Council.

No immediate plans were made to evacuate 84 girls from a second camp 10 miles west of the fire, she said.

Firefighters continue to fight blazes in Park County, Colorado

To the north, in Larimer County, high winds fanned the Bobcat Fire, as it was known locally. About 150 people had been forced out of their homes, said Bob Skillman, Loveland Fire and Rescue Division chief.

The fire was burning in pine and fir trees near Storm Mountain, said Larimer County sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Gordon.

With much of the United States facing drought conditions and the heart of the fire season ahead, the Colorado fires were the most damaging of those burning across a number of Western states, including Arizona, California, New Mexico and Utah.

The nation is seeing the worst start of a fire season since 1996, the National Interagency Fire Center in Idaho said Monday.

The season began more than a month ago with blazes engulfing areas of Florida and the Southwest, most notably in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

By Monday, some 44,300 fires covering more than 1.2 million acres had been recorded nationwide -- and drought conditions already well known in the Southeast and Southwest were growing worse in the West.

CNN affiliate KCNC and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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