DEL NORTE, Colo. (AP) — A wildfire threatening a tourist region in
southwestern Colorado mushroomed to about 100 square miles Saturday,
but officials said that they remained optimistic they could protect
the town of South Fork.
The rapid advance of the erratic blaze prompted the evacuation of
hundreds of summer visitors and the town's 400 permanent residents
Friday, and it could be days before people are allowed back into their
homes, cabins and RV parks, fire crew spokeswoman Laura McConnell
said. South Fork Mayor Kenneth Brooke estimated that 1,000 to 1,500
people were forced to flee.
Saturday night, officials provided an estimate of the size of the
wildfire burning through a rugged and remote mountainous region, but
said they wouldn't have a better idea of its size until infrared
imaging is done overnight.
Some business owners were being allowed back into South Fork during
the day Saturday to tie up issues left unattended in the rush to
leave.
Officials, meanwhile, closely monitored an arm of the blaze moving
toward the neighboring town of Creede.
"We were very, very lucky," said Rio Grande County Commissioner Carla
Shriver. "We got a free pass yesterday."
McConnell said no structures had been lost and the fire was still
about 5 miles from the town.
The blaze had been fueled by dry, hot, windy weather and a stand of
dead trees, killed by a beetle infestation. The fire's spread had
slowed for a while Saturday morning after the flames hit a healthy
section of forest. Fire crews remained alert as more hot, dry and
windy weather was forecast.
The wildfire, a complex of three blazes, remains a danger, officials said.
"The fire is very unpredictable," Shriver told evacuees at Del Norte
High School, east of the fire. "They are saying they haven't quite
seen one like this in years. There is so much fuel up there."
Winds picked up Saturday afternoon and a heavy black again permeated
the air in Del Norte, where a Red Cross shelter was set up for
evacuees. Anticipating the mandatory South Fork evacuation would last
for days, the Red Cross promised more supplies and portable showers.
Ralph and Leilani Harden of Victoria, Texas, spend summers in South Fork.
"We jumped out of the South Texas hot box into the Colorado frying
pan," Ralph Harden said.
Bob and Sherry Mason bought the Wolf Creek Ski Lodge on the Western
Edge of South Fork about a year and a half ago.
"This (wildfire) was in our contingency plan being in Colorado, but we
didn't expect it this soon," Bob Mason said.
New fire crews, meanwhile, descended from other areas to join more
than 32 fire engines stationed around South Fork, with hoses and
tankers at the ready. Firefighters also worked to move potential fuel,
such as lawn furniture, propane tanks and wood piles, away from homes
and buildings.
The town of Creede's 300 residents were under voluntary evacuation
orders as officials feared the fire could reach the roads leading out
of town.
The heavy black smoke, broken up only by an orange glow over the
outlines of the San Juan mountains, was so thick Friday that the plume
helped keep an 18-square-mile wildfire burning 100 miles to the east
near Walsenburg from spreading as fast as it would have otherwise.
Susan Valente, an on-site spokeswoman for the fire near Walsenburg,
said the shade helped keep the forest from drying out in the hot
afternoon sun. Residents from 300 homes remain evacuated while in the
city of Walsenburg and the town of Aguilar remain on pre-evacuation
notice, meaning residents must be ready to flee at a moment's notice.
"Fire conditions are prime with the combination of fuels, heat, winds
and low humidity," fire information officer Mike Stearly of the Rocky
Mountain Area Coordination Center, "It's expected to be like this
through next Tuesday."
There are 12 wildfires burning in Colorado that have scorched 133
square miles, which includes the Black Forest fire that destroyed 511
homes north of Colorado Springs and is the most destructive in
Colorado history.
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