COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Colorado Springs officials said Thursday that hundreds of homes have been destroyed by a raging wildfire that has encroached on the state’s second-largest city and threatened the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Mayor Steve Bach said the fire has destroyed an estimated 346 homes, making the blaze the most destructive in state history.
The 29-square-mile fire started Saturday and was 15 percent contained Thursday night. It has burned out of control for much of the week and forced more than 30,000 people to pack up and flee.
The cost of fighting the blaze had already reached $3.2 million, officials said.
A fire in northern Colorado, which is still burning, destroyed 257 homes and until Thursday was the most destructive in state history.
The cause of the blaze remains unknown and local authorities said Thursday that conditions were too dangerous for any such investigation to begin. El Paso County sheriff’s Lt. Jeff Kramer said U.S. Forest Service agents were waiting for firefighting commanders to tell them when it’s safe to enter the burned area.
The wildfire was one of many burning across the parched West, blazes that have destroyed structures and prompted evacuations in Montana and Utah and forced theclosure of a portion of Utah’s Zion National Park.
Ed and Florine Gigandet took refuge in a hotel in Manitou Springs, which days earlier had been evacuated when the same fire passed through. They fled their home as ash fell on the driveway from ominous orange smoke overhead.
Trying to learn about damage, the Gigandets drove to near their west Colorado Springs neighborhood to talk to police officers and see the area. They scoured media photos and spent hours on the phone with friends for any scrap of information.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation said Thursday that two people were arrested in connection with a burglary at an evacuated home. Belinda Yates and Shane Garrett were being held on charges including second-degree burglary and possession of methamphetamine.
Meanwhile, the White House said President Barack Obama will tour fire-stricken areas of Colorado today and thank firefighters battling some of the worst fires to hit the American West in decades.
Colorado Springs Police Chief Peter Carey said Obama’s visit to Colorado, considered a key battleground state in the presidential election, would not tax the city’s alreadystrained police force. Gov. John Hickenlooper said he expected the president might sign a disaster declaration that would allow for more federal aid.
The fire blackened up to 50 acres along the southwestboundary of the Air Force Academy campus, said Anne Rys-Sikora, a spokesman for the firefighters. No injuries or damage to structures - including the well-known Cadet Chapel - were reported.
Fort Carson, an Army infantry post about 15 miles from the academy, sent 120 soldiers along with bulldozers and other heavy equipment to help clear a line to stop the fire’s march on the academy. Rys-Sikora said the academy was not getting a disproportionate share of equipment and firefighters.
Elsewhere, a 72-square-mile wildfire in central Utah has destroyed at least 56 structures, mainly homes, and continued to burn with just 20 percent containment, authorities said Thursday. Officials expected to find more damage as they continue their assessment.
The smaller New Harmony Fire near St. George, Utah, started Wednesday afternoon and had grown to 2,000 acres by midnight, forcing an undetermined number of residents near New Harmony and Bumblebee to evacuate. The fire was burning about 3 miles north of Zion National Park, prompting park officials to close a canyon area popular with hikers known as the Kolob section.
Information for this article was contributed by Susan Montoya Bryan, Mead Gruver, Dan Elliott, Rema Rahman, Chris Carlson, Whitney Phillips, Matthew Brown and Matt Volz of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 2 on 06/29/2012