“Life-threatening” wildfires driven by 100-mph winds force evacuation of thousands near Boulder, Colorado
By Trevor Hughes and Doyle Rice
30 December 2021
BOULDER, Colorado (USA TODAY) – Several grass fires near Boulder, Colorado, forced thousands of people to flee their homes Thursday, officials said, as high winds knocked down live power lines.
The National Weather Service called it a “life-threatening” situation, as one gust of 110 mph was reported in the region.
On Thursday afternoon, a cloud of dark gray smoke could be seen blowing over the town of Superior, located about 20 miles northwest of Denver.
The entire town, which has about 13,000 residents, was ordered to evacuate because of a fire that spread northwest of town, according to a notice sent to residents.
The town of Louisville, Colorado, with some 20,000 residents, was also ordered to evacuate due to the fires. “If you’re in the area, please act quickly,” the Boulder Office of Emergency Management tweeted.
“Prayers for thousands of families evacuating from the fires in Superior and Boulder County,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said in a Tweet. “Fast winds are spreading flames quickly and all aircraft are grounded.”
Daniel Swain, a UCLA climate scientist who is on the scene in Colorado Thursday, tweeted “it’s honestly a pretty harrowing scene near Louisville and Superior right now. I can see quite a few structures burning and, if anything, the winds have increased.” [more]
‘Life-threatening’ wildfires force evacuations of thousands near Boulder, Colorado
2 Colorado cities evacuated by wind-driven wildfire
LOUISVILLE, Colorado (AP) – Residents of two northern Colorado cities were ordered to evacuate Thursday because of wildfire.
The city of Louisville has a population of 21,000, was evacuated after residents in Superior, which has 13,000 residents, were told to leave.
Superior is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Denver. Louisville is just 4 miles (6 kilometers) northeast of Superior.
A nearby portion of U.S. Highway 36 was also shut down because of fire.
The blaze northwest of Superior was one of several fires that started in the area Thursday, at least some sparked by downed powerlines, as winds have gusted up to 105 mph (169 kph), according to the National Weather Service.
A scene straight out of an apocalyptic movie was captured in bystander video outside a Costco in Superior. It shows winds whipping through the barren trees in the parking lot surrounded by gray skies, a hazy sun and small fires scattered across the ground.
Colorado’s Front Range, where most of the state’s population lives, had an extremely dry and mild fall, and winter so far has continued to be mostly dry.
Extreme conditions like these are often from a combination of unusual random, short-term and natural weather patterns heightened by long-term, human-caused climate change. Scientists have long warned that the weather will get wilder as the world warms. Climate change has made the West much warmer and drier in the past 30 years.
