Wildfires encroach on homes near Denver as sweltering heat saps firefighters

Associated Press

LITTLETON, Colo. (AP) — A wildfire on the edge of metro Denver crept within a quarter-mile of evacuated homes, but authorities said Thursday they were hopeful that hundreds of threatened residences could be saved as they grapple with sweltering temperatures and firefighters suffering heat exhaustion.

The fire was among several threatening heavily populated areas of the Colorado foothills, including one in which a person was killed earlier this week.

Almost 100 large fires are burning across the western U.S. The largest — Northern California’s Park Fire — has burned more than 400 houses and other structures, officials reported Thursday.

New, large fires were reported in Idaho, southeast Montana and north Texas.

The Quarry Fire southwest of the Denver suburb of Littleton encroached on several large subdivisions. Neighborhoods with nearly 600 homes were ordered to evacuate after the fire — of unknown origin — spread quickly Tuesday afternoon and overnight when relatively few firefighters were yet on the scene.

By Thursday afternoon, firefighting aircraft zipped back and forth between the blaze and a nearby reservoir. Planes skimmed the surface to scoop up water and hovering helicopters pumped water into their tanks, before the aircraft would return to the fire to dump their loads.

Jim and Meg Lutes watched from an overlook near their house northeast of the fire as smoke plumed up from the ridges. Their community west of Littleton was not yet under evacuation orders, but the couple had been ready to start packing a day earlier when flames could be seen blanketing the mountains.

“It can come over that hill pretty quick if the wind changes,” said Jim Lutes, 64, pointing to a nearby ridge.

Five firefighters were injured Wednesday, including four who had heat exhaustion, said Mark Techmeyer, a spokesperson with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

The fire was in steep terrain that made it difficult to access but had been held to about a half-square mile (1.4 square kilometers) with no houses yet destroyed, authorities said. Officials said it remained a major hazard with hot temperatures and low humidity elevating the fire danger.

The fire has “proven to be one of the most challenging firefights I’ve seen,” Techmeyer said at a press conference Thursday as helicopters passed overhead.

He was flanked by hillsides where firefighters labored to keep the blaze from hopping a road separating the conflagration from populated areas.

“If we lose that fight, the fire is coming this way,” Techmeyer said, motioning toward dense neighborhoods and the City of Littleton.

The ranks of firefighters doubled since the day before, from 75 to 155, most of them volunteers. No structures had been lost as of Thursday afternoon but authorities expected the battle to be a long one.

Defense contractor Lockheed Martin operates a large building in Littleton just outside the evacuation zone that has 66 employees, according to the company’s website. A company spokesperson said the facility had been closed as a precaution due to the fire.

Miles to the north near the city of Lyons, Colorado, officials lifted some evacuations and reported making progress on the Stone Canyon Fire. It’s killed one person and destroyed five houses. The cause is under investigation.

California’s arson-caused Park Fire northeast of Chico continued to grow, covering about 610 square miles (1,590 square kilometers) as of Thursday morning. That’s more than 25 times the size of New York’s Manhattan Island.

Losses also increased. The latest updates tallied 437 structures destroyed and 42 damaged, according to Cal Fire. The fire was 18% contained.

Authorities said they faced critical fire weather in the coming days with potential triple-digit temperatures, thunderstorms and erratic winds. Almost 6,000 personnel were helping battle the Park Fire as more fire crews arrived from Utah and Texas.

Scientists say extreme wildfires are becoming more common and destructive in the U.S. West and others parts of the world as climate change warms the planet and droughts become more severe.

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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.