Winds fuel Colorado wildfire
Looting becoming a concern for firefighters
DENVER – Crews in northern Colorado are facing powerful winds as they battle a blaze that has scorched about 86 square miles of mountainous forestland and destroyed at least 181 homes, the most in state history. Meanwhile, local authorities are focusing on another concern: looting.
The destructiveness of the High Park Fire burning 15 miles west of Fort Collins surpassed the Fourmile Canyon wildfire, which destroyed 169 homes west of Boulder in September 2010.
More than 1,630 personnel are working on the Fort Collins-area fire, which was sparked by lightning and is 45 percent contained.
Julie Berney with the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office said firefighters could expect winds of 30 mph with gusts of up to 50 mph Sunday. Some rain moved through Saturday evening, but it wasn’t enough to quell the fire.
“The problem is that when you have a fire like this, even if it rains it evaporates before it hits the ground,” Berney said.
On Sunday afternoon, high winds prompted fire managers to ground all helicopters working on the blaze and to send 96 notices to residents, ordering the immediate evacuation of the Hewlett Gulch subdivision in the Poudre Canyon area north of the fire. It was unclear how many homes were affected.
A red flag warning had been issued for the area until 8 p.m. Sunday, and temperatures could reach 90 degrees, the hottest day since the fire was reported June 9.
But incident commander Bill Hahnenberg said he was pleased with the firefighters’ progress, while also acknowledging that high winds could be a test.
“A scenario could be we’ll lose some line, and then we just go after it the next day and the next day,” he said. “We’re going to do everything we can to protect facilities, and we’re prepared to do that.”
As firefighters try to get the upper hand on the blaze, which has burned large swaths of private and U.S. Forest Service land, local authorities have dispatched roving patrols to combat looting.
On Sunday, deputies arrested 30-year-old Michael Stillman Maher, of Denver, on charges including theft and impersonating a firefighter. The sheriff’s department said Maher was driving through the fire zone with phony firefighter credentials and a stolen government license plate.
Investigators said they found a firearm and stolen property in his vehicle.