BOULDER, Colo. — Authorities say a wildfire burning near Boulder, Colo., has destroyed at least 92 structures and damaged another eight, but it’s not clear how many of them are homes.
Boulder County Sheriff’s Cmdr. Rick Brough said Tuesday that none of the roughly 3,000 people forced out of their homes will be allowed to return for at least two days.
Authorities said the 7,100-acre fire in the foothills west of Boulder isn’t contained at all. At least 200 firefighters from 35 agencies are fighting the blaze that started Monday and was driven through canyons and up steep mountainsides by strong winds.
Authorities are investigating reports that the fire might have started when a car ran into a propane tank.
David Myers knew it was time to leave when he looked out into the forest and spotted bright red flames towering skyward. Then came a blinding cloud of smoke and a deafening roar as the fire ripped through the wilderness.
“You can hear just this consumption of fuel, just crackling and burning. And the hardest thing is ... you couldn’t see it because at the point the smoke was that thick,” he said.
Myers was among about 3,500 people who desperately fled the fire after it erupted in a tinder-dry canyon northwest of Boulder on Monday and swallowed up dozens of homes. Residents packed everything they could into their cars and sped down narrow, winding roads to safety, encountering a vicious firestorm that melted the bumper of one couple’s van.
Myers said Tuesday afternoon that people told him they believed his house was destroyed. He said while he’s sure he will experience “a varied level of emotions” about losing it, he remembers how he felt when fleeing the wildfire.
“All that really matters to us was my wife and I getting each other, getting the dogs, and getting out of there,” Myers said. “We grabbed a couple of things, but when we look around, and we go, ‘What should I take?’ it all seems pretty irrelevant.”
