Iran Press/ America: Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle also said Saturday that investigators are still trying to find the cause of the blaze that erupted Thursday. Officials had previously estimated at least 500 homes were destroyed and said two people were missing.
The wind-whipped wildfire charred entire neighborhoods in a suburban area between Denver and Boulder.
Colorado authorities were searching Saturday for two people reported missing from a wind-whipped winter-season wildfire in Denver's suburbs that destroyed hundreds of homes and left thousands of people trying to salvage what belongings they could from the fast-moving blaze.
Authorities had said earlier no one was missing in the area hit by Thursday's blaze, but Boulder County spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill said Saturday they were now trying to find two people who were later reported as unaccounted for after sheriff’s deputies, firefighters, and other officials located hundreds of people who initially were reported missing. She declined to provide details on the two, where they were last seen, or efforts to find them and attributed the error to confusion inherent when agencies are scrambling to manage an emergency.
The news came as overnight dumping of snow and frigid temperatures Saturday compounded the misery of hundreds of Colorado residents who started off the new year trying to salvage what remains of their homes.
At least 6 inches (0.15 meters) of snow and temperatures in the single digits cast an eerie scene amid the still-smoldering remains of homes destroyed in Thursday’s wildfire that raced through the suburban area that lies between Denver and Boulder. Despite the shocking change in weather, the smell of smoke still permeated empty streets blocked off by National Guard troops in Humvees.
For the thousands of residents whose homes survived the conflagration, Red Cross shelter volunteers distributed electric space heaters as utility crews struggled to restore natural gas and electricity.
At least seven people were injured in the wildfire that erupted in and around Louisville and Superior, neighboring towns about 32 kilometers northwest of Denver with a combined population of 34,000. More than 500 homes were feared destroyed.
The blaze, which burned at least 24 square kilometers, was no longer considered an immediate threat.
Families forced to flee the flames with little warning began returning to their neighborhoods Friday to find a patchwork of devastation. On some blocks, homes reduced to smoking ruins stood next to ones practically unscathed by the fires.
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, 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.
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