Colorado Fires Wipe Out Up To 1,000 Homes; Fires Reportedly Started By Downed Power Lines

Up to 1,000 homes have been destroyed and thousands of residents have left their homes as massive wildfires sweep through Colorado. 

At least 580 homes and have been burned down and 30,000 people have been forced to evacuate their homes as wildfires damaged neighborhoods Friday morning, Fox News reports. Six people were sent to hospitals as a result of the fires. Winds were reportedly blowing at 105 miles per hour. 

“The end won’t come until the wind subsides,” Joe Pelle, the Boulder County sheriff, said, per Fox News. “This is the kind of fire you can’t fight head-on. We actually had deputy sheriffs and firefighters in areas that had to pull out because they just got overrun.”

The fires hit residents in Colorado’s front range between Denver and Boulder. Officials say the fires as “twice as destructive as the Black Forest Fire” that struck the state 10 years ago. 

The fires are reportedly started from downed power lines, and dry conditions and powerful winds helped spread the fires, The New York Post reports. They reportedly covered over 1,600 acres.

#Colorado
Home surveillance cameras show the rapid speed at which a wind-driven fire moves across combustible material(s). This massive wildfire was sparked by downed power lines toppled in the high winds.#CAwx
pic.twitter.com/dm9lCD3NFj

— The News Spark (@TheNewsSpark) December 30, 2021

#BREAKING: New Footage From The Air, Taken On A Commercial Flight This Evening, Shows Hundreds Of Homes And Structures On Fire In #Superior & #Louisville, CO. #BreakingNews#coloradofires#BoulderFires#BoulderColorado
https://t.co/FTjCeT0AMx

— The News Spark (@TheNewsSpark) December 31, 2021

Tens of thousands of people in Colorado had to evacuate their homes Thursday night as wildfires with hurricane-force winds swept through the Denver and Boulder areas.

One of the fires destroyed nearly 600 homes — more than the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history. pic.twitter.com/YvL8x1Jmd8

— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 31, 2021