Wildfires in Colorado have destroyed hundreds of homes and called for mass evacuations.
Video / AP
Hundreds of Colorado residents who had expected to ring in 2022 in their homes are instead starting off the new year trying to salvage what remains of them after a wind-whipped wildfire tore through the Denver suburbs.
Families forced to flee the flames with little warning returned to their neighbourhoods to find a patchwork of devastation. On some blocks, homes reduced to smoking ruins stood next to ones practically unscathed by the fires.
"For 35 years I walked out my front door, I saw beautiful homes," Eric House said. "Now when I walk out, my home's standing. I walk out my front door and this is what I see."
At least seven people were injured, but remarkably there have been no reports of any deaths or anyone missing in the wildfire that erupted Thursday (local time) in and around Louisville and Superior, neighbouring towns about 32km northwest of Denver with a combined population of 34,000.
More than 500 homes were feared destroyed and now homeowners face the difficult task of rebuilding amid a global shortage of supplies brought on by the two-year pandemic.
"In the way the economy is right now — how long is it gonna take to build all these houses back?" asked Brian O'Neill, who owns a home in Louisville that burned to the ground.
Cathy Glaab found that her home in Superior had been turned into a pile of charred and twisted debris. It was one of seven houses in a row that were destroyed.
A burned out car sits in the middle of the road amidst the remnants of a wildfire. Photo / AP
"The mailbox is standing," Glaab said, trying to crack a smile through tears. She added sadly, "So many memories."
Despite the devastation, she said they intend to rebuild the house she and her husband have had since 1998. They love that the land backs up to a natural space, and they have a view of the mountains from the back.
Rick Dixon feared there would be nothing to return to after he saw firefighters try to save his burning home on the news. On Friday, Dixon, his wife and son found it mostly gutted with a gaping hole in the roof but still standing.
"We thought we lost everything," he said, as he held his mother-in-law's china in padded containers. They also retrieved sculptures that belonged to Dixon's father and piles of clothes still on hangers.
As the flames swept over drought-stricken neighbourhoods with alarming speed, propelled by gusts up to 105mph (169km/h), tens of thousands were ordered to flee.
A Boulder County neighbourhood that was destroyed by a wildfire. Photo / AP
The cause of the blaze was under investigation. Emergency authorities said utility officials found no downed power lines around where the fire broke out.
With some roads still closed Friday, people walked back to their homes to get clothes or medicine, turn the water off to prevent the pipes from freezing, or see if they still had a house. They left carrying backpacks and pulling suitcases or wagons down the sidewalk.
David Marks stood on a hillside overlooking Superior with others, using a pair of binoculars and a long-range camera lens to see if his house, and those of his neighbours, were still there, but he couldn't tell for sure whether his place was okay. He said at least three friends lost their homes.
He had watched from the hillside as the neighbourhood burned.
"By the time I got up here, the houses were completely engulfed," he said. "I mean, it happened so quickly. I've never seen anything like that … Just house after house, fences, just stuff flying through the air, just caught on fire."
By first light Friday, the towering flames that had lit up the night sky had subsided and the winds had died down. Light snow soon began to fall, and the blaze, which burned at least 24sq km, was no longer considered an immediate threat.
"We might have our very own New Year's miracle on our hands if it holds up that there was no loss of life," Jared Polis said, noting that many people had just minutes to evacuate.
The wildfire broke out unusually late in the year, following an extremely dry fall and amid a winter nearly devoid of snow so far.
Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said more than 500 homes were probably destroyed. He and the governor said as many as 1000 homes might have been lost, though that won't be known until crews can assess the damage.
"It's unbelievable when you look at the devastation that we don't have a list of 100 missing persons," the sheriff said.
The sheriff said some communities were reduced to just "smoking holes in the ground". He urged residents to wait for the all-clear to go back because of the danger of fire and fallen power lines.
Todd Lovrien looks over the fire damage from the Marshall Wildfire at his sister's home in Louisville, Colorado. Photo / AP
Superior and Louisville are filled with middle- and upper-middle-class subdivisions with shopping centres, parks and schools. The area is between Denver and Boulder, home to the University of Colorado.
Scientists say climate change is making weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.
Ninety per cent of Boulder County is in severe or extreme drought, and it hasn't seen substantial rainfall since mid-summer. Denver set a record for consecutive days without snow before it got a small storm on December 10, its last snowfall before the wildfires broke out.
Bruce Janda faced the loss of his Louisville home of 25 years in person Friday.
"We knew that the house was totalled, but I felt the need to see it, see what the rest of the neighbourhood looked like," he said.
"We're a very close-knit community on this street. We all know each other and we all love each other. It's hard to see this happen to all of us."
