Nearly 1,000 homes have been destroyed, hundreds more have been damaged and three people are missing after fires destroyed hundreds of homes Thursday in the U.S. state of Colorado, authorities said on Saturday 1er January.
Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle also said on Saturday that investigators were still trying to find the cause of the fire that started on Thursday. Authorities previously estimated that at least 500 homes had been destroyed. They also announced earlier on Saturday that two people were missing.
Tens of thousands of people had to flee, chased by flames that destroyed entire neighborhoods ” in the blink of an eye “, according to Colorado Governor Jared Polis. “Families only had a few minutes to put everything they could – their animals, their children – in the car and leave ”, he had explained.
Snowfall stopped the fire from spreading on Friday.
Striking damage
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.
The fires, unusual for the season, were said to have been caused by power lines falling on arid soil, the flames being fanned by strong winds. Colorado has been hit for several years by an 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.