Thousands of Americans were ordered to evacuate their homes in Colorado on Thursday due to fires powered by strong winds.
The evacuation order mainly concerns Louisville, a city with a population of 20,000.
“If you are in the area, leave immediately,” emergency services in Boulder County, which is about 50 miles from Denver, Colorado, warned residents.
“Strong winds are spreading the flames fast and all the planes are stuck on the ground,” Jared Polis, the governor of this mountainous US state where the Rocky Mountains meet the Great Plains, said via Twitter.
“Leave Louisville because otherwise your life will be in danger,” the US Meteorological Agency insisted, referring to winds of gusts of up to 170 kilometers per hour.
Another town affected by the command, Superior (13,000 inhabitants), was covered in clouds of black smoke on Thursday, as shown in snapshots posted on social networking sites.
According to Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelly, the blaze may have destroyed more than 500 homes and burned 64,750 acres. In Superior, the sheriff pointed out, 370 buildings were destroyed, 210 in the area of ​​the old city.
Among the people evacuated were patients at Avista Adventist Hospital who were found to be particularly vulnerable to smoke inhalation, especially patients in intensive care units (ICUs) and newborns.
Six burn victims were treated at UCHealth Hospital in neighboring Brumfield, according to Kelly Christensen’s spokeswoman, who did not provide further details on their condition.
The fire, just outside the Denver metropolitan area, ravaged after a long drought, was followed by several days of snowfall in the Rockies. Meteorologists estimate that there may be snowfall in the area of ​​Denver and eastern Colorado, from today, Friday.
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