Wildfires destroy dozens of homes

COLORADO SPRINGS – A wildfire fueled by hot temperatures, gusty winds and thick, bone-dry forests has destroyed 92 homes, damaged five more and prompted more than 7,000 residents northeast of Colorado Springs to flee, sheriff’s officials said Wednesday.

A separate Colorado wildfire to the south has destroyed 20 structures and prompted evacuations of about 250 residents and nearly 1,000 inmates at medium-security prison. To the north, another fire burned in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Wildfires also were burning in New Mexico, Oregon and California, where a smokejumper was killed fighting one of dozens of lightning-sparked fires.

Crews were so busy battling blazes across the West that the U.S. Forest Service said Wednesday it was mobilizing a pair of Defense Department cargo planes to help – a step taken only when all of the Forest Service’s contracted tankers already are in use.

The fire near Colorado Springs, one of several that broke out Tuesday along Colorado’s Front Range, has prompted evacuation orders and pre-evacuation notices to between 9,000 and 9,500 people and about 3,500 homes and businesses.

Some Colorado Springs residents were warned to be ready to evacuate, mostly because of a fear of flying embers spreading the fire into the state’s second-largest city. Sheriff’s officials also evacuated part of neighboring Elbert County, including two camps with a total of about 1,250 children and adults.

The smell of smoke and bits of ash drifted into Denver, about 60 miles to the north, where the haze blocked the sun.

No injuries or deaths have been reported, but El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa said officials were trying to confirm the whereabouts of one person reported missing Wednesday.

Maketa said he was worried about those who chose to ignore evacuation orders and stay behind.

“One of my worst fears is that people took their chances and it may have cost them their life,” he said.

The area is not far from last summer’s Waldo Canyon Fire that destroyed 346 homes and killed two people.

Denver Broncos guard Ben Garland’s grandparents lost their home in that blaze and now live in a Black Forest neighborhood. Smoke billowed near their new home Wednesday.

“It’s tough. It was tough going through it the first time,” Garland said. “I know the first time, we didn’t take it as seriously. We just thought it’d pass over, and the firefighters would take care of it. The second time, it was really scary, and they packed up real quick and got ready to go.”

The Forest Service mobilized specially equipped Defense Department C-130s to drop slurry on wildfires in the West after all 12 of its air tankers were deployed. At least one was fighting the Black Forest Fire.