Fire near downtown Boulder, Colorado, forces evacuations
Channel: Jany Home
Date: 19/03/2017

Fire near downtown Boulder, Colorado, forces evacuations

A small wildfire burning in the mountains just outside downtown Boulder, Colorado, forced people from their homes early Sunday and ignited dead trees that exploded into black plumes of smoke, authorities and residents said.

Wind was pushing the flames in the wooded area a couple of miles west of Pearl Street, the shopping and dining heart of the university city's downtown. The fire was only about 60 acres, but strong gusts and warm and dry weather threatened to fan the flames.

Authorities made more than 1,000 calls to residents ordering them to evacuate and warned an additional 2,200 to get ready to leave if conditions worsened, said Gabi Boerkircher of the Boulder Office of Emergency Management.