CONIFER, Colo.—A tour Tuesday of the damage caused by a Colorado wildfire showed all that was left of several homes was charred, unrecognizable foundations.
A reporting pool traveled into the heart of the burn area Tuesday afternoon, six miles in on Kuehster Road. The road narrows to one lane at points in the backcountry, with dead-ends leading off to homes.
Tree stumps and the charred foundations of what were once homes that burned Monday still smoldered, marked by blackened concrete and molten metal.
Flames still shot out of a gas line in one of the destroyed homes. The house numbers on a post near the driveway were melted into the wood.
Dan Hatlestad, public information officer for the Jefferson County Incident Management Team, said it took only minutes for the flames, with temperatures topping 1,000 degrees, to flatten the homes.
Twenty residents had to be pulled out of the area at the last minute by fire crews and emergency vehicles. The smoke was so thick that firefighters had to stick their heads out the windows as they drove, trying to track the roadway.
One family became so disoriented that their two vehicles drove off the road, and fire crews had to save them and their pets. Emergency crews picked up the family as they tried to escape the blaze on foot.
“Many people watched their homes burn last night,” said Hadlestad, who was one of the crew members helping residents escape the fire.
At one point sheets of flames as long as 20 to 30 feet sprawled across the roadway—the only way in and out of the neighborhood.
Winds of up to 80 mph tore through the area while emergency crews worked.
“At some points I had difficulty standing up,” Hadlestad said.
The hill just above where the fire re-ignited around 2 p.m. Monday was black and smoldering Tuesday afternoon.
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Information from: The Denver Post,
