CLIMATE REFUGEES
Video shows people fleeing a Chuck E. Cheese in Colorado after wildfire flames and heavy smoke appeared in a matter of minutesKelsey Vlamis
Thu, December 30, 2021
Smoke from a wildfire on Thursday in Superior, Colorado.David Zelio/Associated Press
Wildfires fueled by strong winds swept through Colorado's Front Range Thursday.
Video shows guests at a Chuck E. Cheese evacuating after flames appear yards from the building.
A witness told Insider the situation quickly changed from a clear blue sky to smoke and flames.
Customers evacuated a Chuck E. Cheese in Superior, Colorado, Thursday after a wind-fueled wildfire quickly appeared in the area.
Jason Fletcher, who shared a video of the evacuation on Twitter, told Insider the scene changed in a matter of minutes. He said his family was enjoying an afternoon at the restaurant and arcade and there were clear blue skies and some high winds outside.
About noon, people began to notice a little bit of smoke outside. Fletcher said they didn't think much of it initially and assumed the wind was blowing smoke in from elsewhere. But within minutes, there was suddenly a lot of smoke, he said.
"Then my wife noticed the flames, and that's when she called out to everybody," Fletcher, who is from California but was in town visiting family, said.
The video he shared was taken from inside the Chuck E. Cheese and shows large flames just yards away from the building.
People can be seen rushing around in between the arcade games, shouting out for others and carrying small children as they head for the exit.
"Everybody was just gathering their kids and making sure they were safe," Fletcher said.
He said it took multiple people to push the building doors open to exit because the winds were so strong. He added that they were "fortunate" to have masks because the smoke outside when they went to their cars was so heavy.
By the time they exited, fire trucks had arrived and were guiding people out of the shopping center and helping them avoid the flames. Fletcher and his family were able to safely evacuate.
Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado declared a state of emergency Thursday after high winds fueled grass fires along the Front Range, especially in Boulder County, northwest of Denver.
Residents of Louisville and Superior, the location of the Chuck E. Cheese, were told to evacuate over the fires. Officials said winds in the area reached speeds of 110 mph.
At least six people were being treated with burns and injuries related to the fires, according to a spokesperson for UCHealth.
'Absolutely devastating': Wind-driven Colorado wildfires burn hundreds of homes near Boulder
Trevor Hughes, Doyle Rice, Jeanine Santucci and Christal Hayes
Trevor Hughes, Doyle Rice, Jeanine Santucci and Christal Hayes
USA TODAY
Thu, December 30, 2021
BOULDER, Colo. — A ferocious wind-driven wildfire on Thursday destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses near Denver, forcing tens of thousands to flee and blanketing the area in smoke.
The high winds that fanned fires in the area continued into Thursday night as the Boulder suburbs of Superior and Louisville remained under evacuation orders. Firefighters were forced to withdraw in many areas as one large wildfire raged on and another remained under control.
On Thursday night, hundreds of people watched from a ridge top as orange flames tore through the Rock Creek neighborhood of Superior, and numerous other fires dotted the horizon.
Firefighting conditions were expected to improve overnight with decreasing winds. The National Weather Service said a high wind warning was extended through 8 p.m. but winds were expected to lessen overnight. Snow that's expected Friday could also help douse the blaze, a National Weather Service meteorologist told USA TODAY.
About 600 homes, a Target shopping complex and a hotel have been destroyed by fire in the area, according to Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle.
In the old town area of Superior, Colorado, multiple buildings and vehicles are on fire, including an Element hotel.
One fire had burned over 1,600 acres in a suburban area as of Thursday evening, Pelle said at a press conference. At least one first responder was injured and a hospital reported treating several burn victims.
There have been no reports of missing people or fatalities yet. But Pelle said he would not be surprised if there were injuries or fatalities resulting from the fires.
Gov. Jared Polis declared a state of emergency to allow the state to access emergency funds and services.
"This area, for those who don't know this area of Boulder County, is right in and around suburban sub-developments, stores – It's like the neighborhood that you live in," Polis said at the press conference. "1,600 acres near a population center can be, and is in this case, absolutely devastating."
On Thursday afternoon, a cloud of dark gray smoke could be seen blowing over the town of Superior, located about 20 miles northwest of Denver. The entire town of about 13,000 residents was ordered to evacuate. About 210 homes were lost in the Old Town area of Superior.
PHOTOS: Wildfires near Denver force thousands to evacuate, vehicles and buildings burned
The city of Louisville, with some 20,000 residents, was also ordered to evacuate. All 370 homes in the Sagamore subdivision of Louisville also burned, Pelle said.
Late Thursday night, Louisville issued a boil water advisory for the entire city in coordination with Colorado's Department of Public Health and Environment.
"Protect yourself by using bottled water or boiling any water to be used for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes, and food preparation until further notice," the advisory said.
Six people were hospitalized with burns at UCHealth Broomfield Hospital, spokeswoman Kelli Christensen told USA TODAY. She could not elaborate on their conditions or the severity of burns due to HIPAA, a health care privacy law, but said all six were being treated currently.
Centura-Avista Adventist Hospital, just northwest of Broomfield, evacuated its patients and employees as the flames grew closer. The hospital was fully evacuated by 4:15 p.m. and sent patients to two sister hospitals. Before the hospital was evacuated, videos posted to social media showed flames just across the street with homes on fire. One video showed hospital workers in a field outside the hospital with a hose nearby that had been used to wet the grass.
"Patients should not attempt to go to Avista Adventist Hospital; nearby roads have been closed. Patients should go to the nearest hospital to receive services or call 9-1-1 if it is emergency," said Lindsay Radford, a spokeswoman for the hospital.
The Broomfield Detention Center, about 20 miles northwest of Denver, was evacuated late Thursday night. All inmates were evacuated to another facility and are safe, Broomfield police tweeted.
As of 5 p.m., the fire was hopscotching through several neighborhoods in Superior, setting ablaze some houses and leaving others untouched. Almost all that burned were completely unchecked, firefighters powerless to stop the flames being driven by the howling wind.
Pat Kilbride, who has lived in the Old Town area of Superior for 30 years said his house burned down, killing his dog and cat. He said he believed many other homes were also destroyed.
Kilbride rushed toward his house when he heard the fire was approaching the area, but couldn’t get close because of road closures. By the time he arrived on foot, it was already engulfed.
“It’s all gone. The whole Old Town,” he said. “I’m going to head back to my truck and feel sorry for myself.”
Strong winds were helping fuel the blaze with gusts as strong as 115 mph measured earlier in the day just south of Boulder, Bruno Rodriguez, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service told USA TODAY. Constant winds were being measured around 40 mph with higher gusts throughout the region.
Smoke fills the air over the suburb of Superior, Colorado, as a wind-driven wildfire forced evacuations on Thursday afternoon.
Officials suspected some of the fires may have been sparked by downed power lines.
Rodriguez said the winds were unlike anything they've seen this season. Coupled with six to seven months of incredibly dry conditions, he said, it was "the worst, most terrible combination that just allowed a fast-moving fire like this."
The region only saw about 1.6 inches of rain since August, which was "well below normal," Rodriguez said.
As firefighters continued to battle the raging fire, the area was also placed under a winter storm warning with several inches of snow forecast overnight and into Friday. The wet snow should help douse the blaze, along with winds forecasted to slow into the evening.
"We're going to thankfully see rapidly changing weather conditions," Rodriguez said. "We've been waiting for this snow for a while, and it couldn't have come at a better time."
Hughes reported from Boulder.
Contributing: The Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Boulder wildfires: Hundreds of homes burn; evacuations ordered
Thu, December 30, 2021
BOULDER, Colo. — A ferocious wind-driven wildfire on Thursday destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses near Denver, forcing tens of thousands to flee and blanketing the area in smoke.
The high winds that fanned fires in the area continued into Thursday night as the Boulder suburbs of Superior and Louisville remained under evacuation orders. Firefighters were forced to withdraw in many areas as one large wildfire raged on and another remained under control.
On Thursday night, hundreds of people watched from a ridge top as orange flames tore through the Rock Creek neighborhood of Superior, and numerous other fires dotted the horizon.
Firefighting conditions were expected to improve overnight with decreasing winds. The National Weather Service said a high wind warning was extended through 8 p.m. but winds were expected to lessen overnight. Snow that's expected Friday could also help douse the blaze, a National Weather Service meteorologist told USA TODAY.
About 600 homes, a Target shopping complex and a hotel have been destroyed by fire in the area, according to Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle.
In the old town area of Superior, Colorado, multiple buildings and vehicles are on fire, including an Element hotel.
One fire had burned over 1,600 acres in a suburban area as of Thursday evening, Pelle said at a press conference. At least one first responder was injured and a hospital reported treating several burn victims.
There have been no reports of missing people or fatalities yet. But Pelle said he would not be surprised if there were injuries or fatalities resulting from the fires.
Gov. Jared Polis declared a state of emergency to allow the state to access emergency funds and services.
"This area, for those who don't know this area of Boulder County, is right in and around suburban sub-developments, stores – It's like the neighborhood that you live in," Polis said at the press conference. "1,600 acres near a population center can be, and is in this case, absolutely devastating."
On Thursday afternoon, a cloud of dark gray smoke could be seen blowing over the town of Superior, located about 20 miles northwest of Denver. The entire town of about 13,000 residents was ordered to evacuate. About 210 homes were lost in the Old Town area of Superior.
PHOTOS: Wildfires near Denver force thousands to evacuate, vehicles and buildings burned
The city of Louisville, with some 20,000 residents, was also ordered to evacuate. All 370 homes in the Sagamore subdivision of Louisville also burned, Pelle said.
Late Thursday night, Louisville issued a boil water advisory for the entire city in coordination with Colorado's Department of Public Health and Environment.
"Protect yourself by using bottled water or boiling any water to be used for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes, and food preparation until further notice," the advisory said.
Six people were hospitalized with burns at UCHealth Broomfield Hospital, spokeswoman Kelli Christensen told USA TODAY. She could not elaborate on their conditions or the severity of burns due to HIPAA, a health care privacy law, but said all six were being treated currently.
Centura-Avista Adventist Hospital, just northwest of Broomfield, evacuated its patients and employees as the flames grew closer. The hospital was fully evacuated by 4:15 p.m. and sent patients to two sister hospitals. Before the hospital was evacuated, videos posted to social media showed flames just across the street with homes on fire. One video showed hospital workers in a field outside the hospital with a hose nearby that had been used to wet the grass.
"Patients should not attempt to go to Avista Adventist Hospital; nearby roads have been closed. Patients should go to the nearest hospital to receive services or call 9-1-1 if it is emergency," said Lindsay Radford, a spokeswoman for the hospital.
The Broomfield Detention Center, about 20 miles northwest of Denver, was evacuated late Thursday night. All inmates were evacuated to another facility and are safe, Broomfield police tweeted.
As of 5 p.m., the fire was hopscotching through several neighborhoods in Superior, setting ablaze some houses and leaving others untouched. Almost all that burned were completely unchecked, firefighters powerless to stop the flames being driven by the howling wind.
Pat Kilbride, who has lived in the Old Town area of Superior for 30 years said his house burned down, killing his dog and cat. He said he believed many other homes were also destroyed.
Kilbride rushed toward his house when he heard the fire was approaching the area, but couldn’t get close because of road closures. By the time he arrived on foot, it was already engulfed.
“It’s all gone. The whole Old Town,” he said. “I’m going to head back to my truck and feel sorry for myself.”
Strong winds were helping fuel the blaze with gusts as strong as 115 mph measured earlier in the day just south of Boulder, Bruno Rodriguez, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service told USA TODAY. Constant winds were being measured around 40 mph with higher gusts throughout the region.
Smoke fills the air over the suburb of Superior, Colorado, as a wind-driven wildfire forced evacuations on Thursday afternoon.
Officials suspected some of the fires may have been sparked by downed power lines.
Rodriguez said the winds were unlike anything they've seen this season. Coupled with six to seven months of incredibly dry conditions, he said, it was "the worst, most terrible combination that just allowed a fast-moving fire like this."
The region only saw about 1.6 inches of rain since August, which was "well below normal," Rodriguez said.
As firefighters continued to battle the raging fire, the area was also placed under a winter storm warning with several inches of snow forecast overnight and into Friday. The wet snow should help douse the blaze, along with winds forecasted to slow into the evening.
"We're going to thankfully see rapidly changing weather conditions," Rodriguez said. "We've been waiting for this snow for a while, and it couldn't have come at a better time."
Hughes reported from Boulder.
Contributing: The Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Boulder wildfires: Hundreds of homes burn; evacuations ordered
Colorado wildfire took hold 'in blink of an eye': governor
Flames engulf homes as the Marshall Fire spreads through a neighborhood
- 'Mosaic' fire -
Pelle said the fire had burned in a "mosaic," leapfrogging some streets, but laying waste to others.
It "devastated some neighborhoods and some blocks," and left others "untouched," he added.
Pelle, who said Thursday he expected injuries and deaths as a result of the wildfires, praised the community response in quickly heeding evacuation orders, which he said had saved lives.
"It's unbelievable when you look at the devastation that we don't have a list of 100 missing persons, but we don't," he said.
"I am hoping that's a miracle because it would be given the circumstances."
A powerful storm system bringing heavy snowfall was blowing into Colorado on Friday.
Up to a foot (30 centimeters) of snow is expected in some parts of the state, in a blizzard that should help to extinguish the fires, which have largely burned themselves out through lack of available fuel now that the winds have dropped.
"There's still areas burning inside the fire zone, around homes and shrubbery, but we're not expecting to see any growth of the fire," Pelle said. "I think we're pretty well contained."
Around 6,000 acres (2,400 hectares) were affected, much of it in urban and suburban areas. Homes, shopping centers and hotels were impacted.
Colorado media outlets reported a handful of people had been treated for burn injuries, but there were no reports of any deaths.
The area's infrastructure remained under strain, with residents ordered to boil water before drinking it.
his handout black and white WorldView-1 satellite image released by Maxar Technologies shows homes and shopping center engulfed in smoke in Superior, Colorado (AFP/-)
- Drought fuelling blazes -
Like much of the American West, Colorado is in the grip of a years-long drought that has left the area parched and vulnerable to wildfire.
Although fires are a natural part of the climate cycle, and help to clear dead brush, their scale and intensity is increasing.
Scientists say a warming climate, chiefly caused by human activities like the unchecked burning of fossil fuels, is altering weather patterns.
This prolongs droughts in some areas and provokes unseasonably large storms in other places.
Daniel Swain, a meteorologist at the University of California, tweeted that it was "hard to believe" these fires were taking hold in December, usually a quieter time for blazes.
"But take a record warm & dry fall, only 1 inch of snow so far this season, & add an extreme (100mph+) downslope windstorm...and extremely fast moving/dangerous fires are the result," he said.
hg/sst
(AFP/Jason Connolly)
Jason CONNOLLY
Fri, December 31, 2021
A fast-spreading wildfire that tore through several Colorado towns -- laying waste to entire neighborhoods "in the blink of an eye," according to the governor -- had largely burned itself out Friday, with heavy snow expected to douse any remaining embers.
At least 500 homes were thought to have been destroyed as the blaze took hold of the town of Superior, just outside the state's biggest city Denver, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee, but there were no deaths reported so far.
Shocking aerial footage shows whole streets as little more than piles of smoking ash; a destruction that appears almost total but that somehow left one or two homes incongruously untouched.
"This was a disaster in fast motion... over the course of half a day. Many families having minutes to get whatever they could -- their pets, their kids -- into the car and leave," state Governor Jared Polis said. "Just as in the blink of an eye."
Downed power lines are believed to have sparked grassfires in the tinder-dry landscape that were then fanned by winds gusting at more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) an hour on Thursday.
At least 33,000 people in the towns of Superior and Louisville were told to flee, many doing so with little more than the clothes on the backs.
Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle told a press conference on Friday that he had seen swathes of the town utterly destroyed, while other areas had been spared.
"We won't have final numbers until late tonight or tomorrow, but we are fully expecting this to be 500 or more homes that were lost," he said.
"I would not be surprised if it's 1,000."
Jason CONNOLLY
Fri, December 31, 2021
A fast-spreading wildfire that tore through several Colorado towns -- laying waste to entire neighborhoods "in the blink of an eye," according to the governor -- had largely burned itself out Friday, with heavy snow expected to douse any remaining embers.
At least 500 homes were thought to have been destroyed as the blaze took hold of the town of Superior, just outside the state's biggest city Denver, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee, but there were no deaths reported so far.
Shocking aerial footage shows whole streets as little more than piles of smoking ash; a destruction that appears almost total but that somehow left one or two homes incongruously untouched.
"This was a disaster in fast motion... over the course of half a day. Many families having minutes to get whatever they could -- their pets, their kids -- into the car and leave," state Governor Jared Polis said. "Just as in the blink of an eye."
Downed power lines are believed to have sparked grassfires in the tinder-dry landscape that were then fanned by winds gusting at more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) an hour on Thursday.
At least 33,000 people in the towns of Superior and Louisville were told to flee, many doing so with little more than the clothes on the backs.
Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle told a press conference on Friday that he had seen swathes of the town utterly destroyed, while other areas had been spared.
"We won't have final numbers until late tonight or tomorrow, but we are fully expecting this to be 500 or more homes that were lost," he said.
"I would not be surprised if it's 1,000."
Flames engulf homes as the Marshall Fire spreads through a neighborhood
in the town of Superior, Colorado (AFP/Jason Connolly)
- 'Mosaic' fire -
Pelle said the fire had burned in a "mosaic," leapfrogging some streets, but laying waste to others.
It "devastated some neighborhoods and some blocks," and left others "untouched," he added.
Pelle, who said Thursday he expected injuries and deaths as a result of the wildfires, praised the community response in quickly heeding evacuation orders, which he said had saved lives.
"It's unbelievable when you look at the devastation that we don't have a list of 100 missing persons, but we don't," he said.
"I am hoping that's a miracle because it would be given the circumstances."
A powerful storm system bringing heavy snowfall was blowing into Colorado on Friday.
Up to a foot (30 centimeters) of snow is expected in some parts of the state, in a blizzard that should help to extinguish the fires, which have largely burned themselves out through lack of available fuel now that the winds have dropped.
"There's still areas burning inside the fire zone, around homes and shrubbery, but we're not expecting to see any growth of the fire," Pelle said. "I think we're pretty well contained."
Around 6,000 acres (2,400 hectares) were affected, much of it in urban and suburban areas. Homes, shopping centers and hotels were impacted.
Colorado media outlets reported a handful of people had been treated for burn injuries, but there were no reports of any deaths.
The area's infrastructure remained under strain, with residents ordered to boil water before drinking it.
his handout black and white WorldView-1 satellite image released by Maxar Technologies shows homes and shopping center engulfed in smoke in Superior, Colorado (AFP/-)
- Drought fuelling blazes -
Like much of the American West, Colorado is in the grip of a years-long drought that has left the area parched and vulnerable to wildfire.
Although fires are a natural part of the climate cycle, and help to clear dead brush, their scale and intensity is increasing.
Scientists say a warming climate, chiefly caused by human activities like the unchecked burning of fossil fuels, is altering weather patterns.
This prolongs droughts in some areas and provokes unseasonably large storms in other places.
Daniel Swain, a meteorologist at the University of California, tweeted that it was "hard to believe" these fires were taking hold in December, usually a quieter time for blazes.
"But take a record warm & dry fall, only 1 inch of snow so far this season, & add an extreme (100mph+) downslope windstorm...and extremely fast moving/dangerous fires are the result," he said.
hg/sst
