VIDEO – United States: Wild fires devour hundreds of homes in Colorado

The United States, once again hit by a major climate disaster. The year 2021 ends with yet another fire across the Atlantic, and not the least. Hundreds of homes were destroyed Thursday in Colorado, a state in the American West battered by strong winds and facing a historic drought. “About 370 homes in the Sagamore subdivision were destroyed”Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said at a press conference. “It is possible that 210 houses were destroyed in the old town of Superior”, he added. In Boulder County, hotels, shopping centers and more than 650 acres of greenery have already gone up in smoke.

Favored by particularly unusual weather conditions for this time of year, with gusts of up to 160 km / h, the fire threatens densely populated areas. “I would like to emphasize the scale and intensity of this fire and its presence in such a densely populated area, we would not be surprised if there were any injuries or deaths.”, warned the sheriff. According to Colorado Sun, at least six people have already had to be hospitalized for burns.

Thousands of people have already been ordered to evacuate to escape the dangerous progression of the flames. This is particularly the case for residents of Louisville, a city of 20,000 inhabitants. “Leave Louisville or your life will be in danger”, insisted the meteorological services. The town of Superior, now covered in a huge cloud of smoke, has received a full evacuation order.

A local, Patrick Kilbride, was at work in a hardware store when he was ordered to leave the area. The 72-year-old rushed to his Superior home to collect his belongings but was unable to save anything other than his car and the clothes he had on his back, the local newspaper reports Denver Post. “Only ashes remain”, he said of the house he lived in for three decades. “It’s a strange feeling to go from a situation where you have all the comforts you can get to having absolutely nothing.”, he testifies.

Another local resident, Patti Holtz, recounts her fear of leaving her home in Boulder County. “Everything is on fire. There are embers everywhere. I am very afraid, of course, with the wind, that it will continue to spread to other houses.”, she relates. “It was so dark you can’t see anything. It’s like the dark of the night.”, she describes.

Struggling for several years with an exceptional drought, the situation in Colorado could worsen in the years to come, with global warming. In general, the entire American West is facing the cataclysmic consequences of these upheavals. The recent huge fires in California and Oregon attest to this.

For Daniel Swain, a meteorologist at UCLA, he is “hard to believe” that these fires occur in December, a period usually not conducive to this type of fires in the region. “But take an autumn of record heat and drought, only two inches of snow so far this season, and add a storm with extreme downward gusts … and the result is extremely dangerous, very fast moving fires. “, analyzed the researcher.