Wildfires spread to tourist regions

Colorado sites face evacuations

— Wildfires moved in on some of Colorado’s most popular summer tourist destinations over the weekend, demolishing nearly two dozen homes near Rocky Mountain National Park and emptying hotels and campgrounds at the base of Pikes Peak.

A wildfire near Colorado Springs grew out of control to more than 3 square miles early Sunday, prompting the evacuation of more than 11,000 residents and an unknown number of tourists.

On Saturday, a blaze destroyed structures near the mountain community of Estes Park, where many visitors stay while visiting the park. The Larimer County sheriff’s office said Sunday that 22 homes and two outbuildings had been burned.

All of this came just a week before the Fourth of July, a key time for family vacations to national parks and other destinations. A statewide ban on open campfires and private fireworks has been in place for more than a week.

With Colorado midway through its worst wildfire season in a decade, travelers have seen some of their favorite sites closed to the public, obscured by smoke and haze.

“We’re used to flooding and tornadoes, nothing like this,” said Amanda Rice, who recently moved to the area from Rock Falls, Ill. Rice, her husband, four children and dog left a Manitou Springs hotel late Saturday.

Rice, scared when she saw flames, took her family to the evacuation center before she was told to go.

“It was just this god-awfulorange glow. It was surreal. It honestly looked like hell was opening up,” Rice said Sunday.

Families planning whitewater rafting trips or visits to the stunning red-rock formations in Garden of the Gods park in Colorado Springs were instead spending their vacations handing out bottled water and setting up cots in evacuee centers.

They included Mark Stein of Morristown, N.J., whose family arrived early Sunday at their Manitou Springs hotel for a week of whitewater rafting and sightseeing.

With his wife and two sons, Stein spent the first night of his vacation setting up cots for more than 200 evacuees who slept at the school.

“I think it’s the best vacation ever. This is what the real world is about. There’s a lot ofpeople that need help,” Stein said.

Also Sunday, a brush fire that began near Elbert, about 50 miles southwest of Denver, quickly spread to about 60 acres, forcing the evacuation of about 100 residents.

Half the nation’s firefighting fleet is now battling fires in Colorado, said Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. He said C-130 military transport planes from Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs would begin assisting today.

Eight wildfires are burning, including a fire that has scorched more than 118 square miles and destroyed at least 248 homes near Fort Collins. “People recognize this is going to take a big push” to extinguish, Hickenlooper said Sunday froma Colorado Springs grocery store where volunteers were passing out burritos, sandwiches and drinks to 350 firefighters working near Pikes Peak.

Elsewhere in the West, a 15-square-mile blaze around Fountain Green in Sanpete County, Utah, was threatening more than 359 permanent structures and 213 mobile homes and travel trailers in four rural subdivisions, forcing about 1,000 people to flee.

In New Mexico, a lightningcaused wildfire that destroyed 242 homes and businesses was 90 percent contained Sunday. The 69-square-mile fire near Ruidoso began June 4. Meanwhile, the largest wildfire in state history was 87 percent contained, having burned more than 464 square miles after two blazes merged May 16.

In Arizona, the U.S. Forest Service said Sunday that containment against the Poco Fire, just outside of Young, was up to 50 percent.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 06/25/2012

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