At least 991 homes were destroyed by the flames that ravaged entire neighborhoods of Superior and Louisville on Thursday, two towns bordering Denver, the main city in the state of Colorado.
Two people are still missing and one was found alive after fires that destroyed nearly a thousand homes Thursday in the US state of Colorado, authorities said on Sunday. Of the three missing, “one of those people was found alive and well,” Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle told reporters, adding that searches were still underway to locate the other two. .
At least 991 homes were destroyed by the flames that ravaged entire neighborhoods of Superior and Louisville, two towns near Denver, the state’s main city, on Thursday, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee in an emergency. Snowfall halted the spread of the fire on Friday, but also complicated the search for missing persons. “It’s a very difficult search because of the debris, the heat, the snow,” Pelle said.
Keep the people of Boulder, Colorado and surrounding areas in your thoughts tonight as multiple grass fires engulf the region including the Middle Fork Fire to the North of Boulder & Marshall Fire to the South. pic.twitter.com/fPhAPgEbUK
– Jordan McCreery (@MMAAdvertising) December 31, 2021
The fire, called “Marshall”, broke out in the arid climate of this western state of the United States, fueled by gusts of wind of more than 160 km / h Thursday. The damage is startling: in aerial images, entire streets are little more than piles of smoking ash. The fire, unlike previous fires, affected suburbs and not just rural areas.
Exceptional drought
In the fire zone, around 1,000 homes were still without power on Sunday, according to Alice Jackson of Xcel Energy, and more than 11,000 were without gas. An investigation is underway to determine the causes of the fire, and a search warrant was announced on Saturday.
Colorado has been hit for several years by exceptional drought, like much of the American West. In recent years, this part of the United States has experienced unprecedented fires, especially in California and Oregon.
With global warming, the intensity and frequency of drought and heatwave episodes are likely to increase further, continuing to create ideal conditions for forest or bush fires.
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