Colorado wildfire destroys 136 homes

 

BOULDER, Colo., Sept. 8 (UPI) -- The Fourmile Fire near Boulder has destroyed at least 136 homes, making it the worst fire in Colorado's recorded history, local officials said Wednesday.

The previous worst wildfire was the 2002 Hayman fire, which consumed 133 homes southwest of Denver while scorching 138,114 acres before it was fully contained a month after it started, Boulder's Daily Camera newspaper reported.

The Fourmile Fire, which had destroyed four outbuildings and damaged 24 other structures, has blackened only 6,388 acres. However, it was roaring unrestrained and officials said it could be 10 days before firefighters can get it under control, the newspaper reported.

Some rain fell in the area Wednesday but Thursday was forecast to be warm and dry.

"We got lucky," Boulder meteorologist Matt Kelsch told the Daily Camera. "It's only a few pockets of moderate rain and light stuff. But it's really useful."

Four people thought to have been in the evacuation zone were unaccounted for, Boulder County Sheriff's Cmdr. Rick Brough said. Two were a married couple reported missing by someone who knows them; one was a person who lives outside the burn zone; and the fourth was only recently reported missing, the newspaper said.

No injuries or deaths had been reported as of Wednesday afternoon.

"I think it is remarkable for a fire of this magnitude to have no confirmed injuries or fatalities," Brough said.

Brough told The Denver Post it will be a few more days before an estimated 3,500 evacuees will be permitted to return home.

Downed wires and burned trees are just some of the hazards residents face, Brough said.

Officials said they were investigating the possibility the wildfire began when someone backed into a propane tank on the 7100 block of Fourmile Canyon Drive.