Popular tourist town in Colorado threatened by wildfires

Fanned by another afternoon of high winds, the erratic wildfire threatening tourist areas of the southwestern Colorado mountains grew to 100 square miles on Saturday, and fire officials said they saw little hope for a break before Tuesday.

Still, they remained optimistic of saving the popular summer retreat of South Fork, and some 600 firefighters spent another day trying to keep the flames from moving in on the Wolf Creek Ski area and the historic mining town of Creede.

“I like our chances,” fire operations chief Russ Long said when asked about the chances of protecting South Fork from one of three blazes in the so-called West Fork fire complex that were sparked last week by lighting in forests turned tinder by lingering drought and beetle infestations that have killed thousands of acres of spruce trees.

But he emphasized that firefighters were strictly in defensive mode, with no containment of the fire.

The blaze’s rapid advance on Friday prompted the evacuation of hundreds of summer visitors and the town’s 400 permanent residents, and it could be days before people are allowed back into their homes, cabins and RV parks, fire crew officials said. South Fork Mayor Kenneth Brooke estimated that 1,000 to 1,500 people were forced to flee.

The fire’s movement toward South Fork had slowed overnight Friday when winds dropped and the flames moved into a more healthy section of forest. But 30- to 40- mph winds returned Saturday afternoon, grounding aircraft and spreading the fast-moving flames to the north.

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.

Officials said they knew of no structures lost, and they estimated the blaze was about a mile and half from South Fork.

“We were very, very lucky,” said Rio Grande County Commissioner Carla Shriver. “We got a free pass yesterday.”

Many of the evacuees are retirees from Texas and Oklahoma, who come to the mountains in their RVs to escape the summer heat.

“We jumped out of the South Texas hot box into the Colorado frying pan,” said Ralph Harden of Victoria, Texas.

Some business owners were allowed back into South Fork during the day Saturday to tie up issues left unattended in the rush to leave.

New fire crews, meanwhile, descended from other areas to join more than 600 firefighters in the area.

And the Red Cross, anticipating the mandatory South Fork evacuation would last for days, prepared to bring in more supplies and portable showers.

Many of the evacuees are retirees from Texas and Oklahoma, who come to the mountains in their RVs to escape the summer heat.

“We jumped out of the South Texas hot box into the Colorado frying pan,” said Ralph Harden of Victoria, Texas.

The heavy smoke from the fire was so thick that the plume was credited with keeping 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 an 18-square-mile 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.