Recently, a record wildfire near the Rocky Mountains in Colorado may have destroyed as many as 1,000 buildings. U.S. President Joe Biden declared it a major disaster, and experts warned that the climate crisis and suburban sprawl were among the causes of the disruption.
On Thursday, barely noticed the blaze in Boulder County, with officials first declaring that, according to the latest news, it was a miracle that no one was killed in the blaze. Subsequently, officials said more than 500 or even more than 1,000 homes and businesses may have been razed to the ground. On Saturday afternoon, authorities said they were looking for two people who went missing after the raging fire.
On Saturday, hundreds of residents who had planned to call their homes in 2022 began a new year as they tried to rescue the rest. Without any warning, families forced to flee the blaze returned friday to communities in Louisville and Subillo, two towns north of the state capital, Denver, with a population of 34,000, but they found a mess.
At least seven people were reportedly injured. Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said damage to homes and businesses could increase as authorities continue to work on the aftermath of the fire, as the situation becomes clearer. Pell said Friday, "I estimate there will be at least 500 buildings, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's 1,000." He added that many of the buildings were compressed into "smokey holes in the ground."
This is considered the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history. On Saturday, many homeowners were already talking about rebuilding their homes in the same place. Cathy Glaab found that her home in Superior had been reduced to a pile of charred, twisted ruins, one of seven houses in a row of destroyed houses. She said with tears in her eyes, "So many memories. She also said she and her husband intend to rebuild the house they have been living there since 1998 because they love the natural space and mountain views at the back.
Boulder County borders the eastern hills of the Rocky Mountains, an area known locally as Front Range. To the west is Rocky Mountain National Park. The fires swept through the steppes and arid regions of the east at an alarming rate, with gusts of winds as high as 105 miles per hour, and tens of thousands of people were ordered to flee. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Light snow fell on Friday that helped extinguish up to 10 square miles of fire, but snow fell late and rarely in the area this winter. Then, overnight snow continued into Saturday, with cold temperatures exacerbating the suffering of homeless residents.
The frozen scene is eerie amid the still smoking ruins, and the smell of smoke still permeates the empty streets blocked by National Guard armored vehicles. In the homes of thousands of residents who survived the fire, volunteers at the Red Cross shelter distributed electric heaters, while utilities are working to restore gas and electricity supplies. But temperatures in the county are forecast to be much higher than freezing on Monday and Tuesday, and the risk of fires remains, though large-scale wildfires in Colorado are uncommon in December.
The president of the United States declared the region a major disaster on Friday and ordered federal assistance to the affected population. The city of Superior and Louisville are full of neighborhoods of middle- and upper-middle-class neighborhoods, with shopping malls, parks and schools. The area is located between Denver and Boulder, home to the University of Colorado. Scientists say climate change is making weather more extreme and forest fires more frequent and destructive.
Boulder County, 90 percent of the county, is in severe or extreme drought and has not seen significant rainfall since midsummer. Buddha set a record for several consecutive days without snow before encountering a small storm on December 10, the last snow before the wildfire broke out. Becky Bolinger, an assistant state climatologist at colorado state University's Climate Center, tweeted, "The factors responsible for devastating wildfires have been coming together since last spring. A very wet spring in 2021 helps with grass growth, a very dry summer and autumn that drys the grass all..."
In an interview with The Denver Post, Mr. Bollinger said, "I thought it wouldn't be long before we were going to start experiencing fires like California, which drove people out of their communities, and I didn't expect that to happen in December." Jennifer Balchi, a fire scientist and director of the Earth Laboratory at the University of Colorado in Boulder, told The New York Times that June-December 2021 was the hottest period on record, and "climate change is certainly part of this catastrophe because the fire season is longer." ”
In addition, the larger Denver metropolitan area also expanded as Americans expanded in the suburbs and new residential areas were built in the Front Range area, which a generation ago was a wild prairie, so when fires broke out, these towns were devastated on a large scale.