The destruction northeast of Colorado Springs has surpassed last June's Waldo Canyon fire, which burned 347 homes, killed two people and caused $353 million in insurance claims just 15 miles to the southwest. The heavy losses were blamed in part on explosive population growth in areas with historically high fire risk. "I never in my wildest dreams imagined we'd be dealing a year later with a very similar circumstance," said El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa, who drew audible gasps as he announced the number of homes lost to the blaze in Black Forest. The fire was 5 percent contained.
Maketa said one person who was reported missing Wednesday was found safe, but crews on Thursday found the remains of two other people who appeared to be trying to flee. The victims were found in a garage in Black Forest. "The car doors were open as if they were loading or grabbing last-minute things," Maketa said. Earlier in the day, residents were ordered to leave 1,000 homes in Colorado Springs. Thursday's evacuation was the first within the city limits. About 38,000 other people living across roughly 70 square miles were already under orders to get out.
An AmeriCorps volunteer firefighter assigned to the El Paso County Sheriff's Office, Woodland Fire Crew, helps contain a spot fire in an evacuated area of forest, ranches and residences, in the Black Forest wildfire area, north of Colorado Springs, Colo., on Thursday, June 13, 2013. According to officials, at least 360 homes have been burned, and 38,000 people have been evacuated since the fire began earlier in the week.
Colorado's second-largest city, with a population of 430,000, also asked residents of 2,000 more homes to be ready to evacuate. The streets became gridlocked with hundreds of cars while emergency vehicles raced by on shoulders. Gene Schwarz, 72, said he had never fully unpacked after last year's fires. He and his neighbors wondered whether open space grassland to the north of them could be a barrier from the flames. "It doesn't matter because a spark can fly over from anywhere," said Schwarz.
Hot, gusty winds fanned the 24-square-mile wildfire, sending it into new areas and back into places that had previously been spared. Even investigators sent in to determine the cause of the fire were pulled out for safety reasons. The Red Cross said more than 800 people stayed at shelters. Black Forest, where the blaze began, offers a case study in the challenges of tamping down wildfires in Colorado and across the West, especially with growing populations, rising temperatures and a historic drought.
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