At least two people are missing after the violent forest fires in the US state of Colorado. “We believe we have two missing people and we are investigating,” Boulder District Disaster Management spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill told AFP on Saturday. Accordingly, she did not have any further information about the two missing persons. So far, no fatalities have been reported from the forest fires at the end of the year.
Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said Friday that it was a “miracle” given the rapid spread of the fire that it did not cause high casualties. It is estimated that at least 500 houses burned down on Thursday – possibly significantly more. “I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a thousand,” said Pelle. Tens of thousands of people had little time to flee.
The aerial photographs showed entire streets with only a pile of ashes from the houses. Other houses in the neighborhood remained unscathed for no apparent reason.
“That was a disaster in fast motion,” said Colorado’s governor Jared Polis, who had previously declared a state of emergency because of the fires. “Many families only had minutes to put whatever they could – their pets, their children – in the car and drive away.” At least 33,000 people had been called to flee in Superior and the nearby town of Louisville.
Power lines overturned by squalls are said to have started the fires. Forest fires in winter are very uncommon in the region. Like much of the western United States, however, Colorado is suffering from a drought that has left the area vulnerable to forest fires. On Friday, snowfalls stopped the fire from spreading.