DURANGO, Colo.—A fast-moving wildfire destroyed a house and blackened 1,526 acres in southwest Colorado, but no injuries were reported, firefighters said Monday.
The fire, about 11 miles south of Mancos and 240 miles southwest of Denver, was reported Sunday on farmland and forests left vulnerable by beetle damage and prolonged hot, dry weather.
Wind-whipped flames reached 100 feet high, said Eric La Price, a spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management. The cause was believed to be lightning.
Winds that rapidly spread the flames a day before changed course and blew the fire on itself, helping firefighters achieve 50 percent containment late Monday, fire officials said in a statement.
Tom Cotten told the Durango Herald his three-bedroom house near burned down Sunday near the small town of Marvel after authorities advised him to leave.
Cotten said he threw his guns, photographs and vinyl record collection into his Jeep Cherokee and fled. As he sped away, he saw a stand of pine trees about 60 yards from his home catch fire, and he learned later his house was destroyed, he said.
“I’ve done this more than once. This year it got to me,” Cotten said.
The Herald reported that firefighters who were spraying Cotten’s house with water had to drop their hoses and flee.
Residents of nearby houses were warned about the fire and some voluntarily evacuated, said Capt. David Griggs of the La Plata County sheriff’s office. Griggs said no mandatory evacuation orders had been issued.
La Price said no other homes were immediately threatened on Monday, but the fire was two miles from about 20 houses. About 100 firefighters were battling the fire, focusing on cutting lines around that edge of the fire to protect the homes, he said.
About 20 percent of the fire was burning on the Southern Ute Reservation, he said.
