A fire that engulfed an apartment building in a small southern Colorado town Wednesday forced road closures and evacuations as crews from throughout the county worked to battle the blaze.
Authorities say fierce winds in La Jara — a Conejos County town of about 800 people roughly 20 miles from the New Mexico state line — hampered efforts to extinguish leaping flames.
“With the wind we got going, all we can see is big old clouds of black smoke,” Rebecca Gutierrez told The Denver Post in a phone interview as wind chimes sang loudly in the background.
Photos from the scene showed firefighters scrambling to send water onto the building through an area where the roof had collapsed.
One image showed an apocalyptic black plume of smoke shooting into the air.
U.S. 285 was closed for most of the day while crews battled the fire.
“Fire crews are working hard in La Jara, but the wind is not helping,” the State Patrol’s Alamosa office said.
, an Alamosa-based newspaper, said about 100 workers fought the fire from at least eight agencies. The newspaper reported the fire was burning in the The Morrison Apartments.
Mayor Larry Zaragoza says nine families in the 12-unit building were displaced.
No injuries were reported.
