Authorities instructed more than 19,000 people to evacuate over the weekend due to a Colorado wildfire near the site of the 2021 blaze that destroyed more than 1,000 homes and caused $513 million in damage.
The wildfire was fueled by wind earlier Saturday and had grown to 122 acres with zero containment, promoting the evacuation order for 19,400, according to Boulder Fire-Rescue spokesperson Marya Washburn.
An overnight shelter was opened after evacuation orders were issued to 8,000 homes and 7,000 buildings, the Boulder Office of Emergency Management said.
No structures had yet been damaged when the order was issued and no injuries were reported.
Saturday’s fire started about 2 p.m. and burned protected wildland near the National Center for Atmospheric Research, according to Boulder police. Boulder Fire-Rescue Wildland Division Chief Brian Oliver said officials expect to fight the fire for several days.
Firefighters battle the NCAR Fire on March 26, 2022. Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images
An air tanker drops slurry on the NCAR Fire on March 26, 2022 in Boulder, Colorado. Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images“The fire started this afternoon down in the Bear Creek drainage,” Brian Oliver, chief of the Boulder Fire Rescue Wildland Division, said at an evening press conference, according to NBC News.
Washburn predicted the warm weather would cool and winds would die down Saturday into Sunday.
“The wind is now dying down, and we’re expecting the weather to work more in our favor,” she said Saturday evening, NBC News reported.
The wildfire had grown to 122 acres with no containment. Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images
The wildfire was caused by wind earlier Saturday. Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images
Firetrucks sit in a neighborhood next to the NCAR Fire on March 26, 2022 in Boulder, Colorado. Michael Ciaglo/Getty ImagesPresident Joe Biden recently toured wildfire damage in Colorado after a fire between Denver and Boulder destroyed nearly 1,100 homes on New Year’s Eve.
The American West’s megadrought worsened in 2021, and became the driest in at least 1,200 years, according to a study. The climate change-induced drier conditions make wildfires more likely, experts say.
As spring begins, more than half the US is experiencing drought conditions that are expected to worsen as unseasonably warm and dry conditions are expected across the South, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center’s most recent report.
Saturday’s fire burned protected wildland near the National Center for Atmospheric Research Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images
A tree goes up in flames as the NCAR Fire burns on March 26, 2022 in Boulder, Colorado. Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images
The wildfire started just a few miles away from where the Marshall Fire destroyed more than 1,000 homes in December. Michael Ciaglo/Getty ImagesThe 2021 fire burned Alicia Miller’s home, where she could see smoke from Saturday’s fire rising in the background, as showcased by a photo she posted on Twitter.
“I feel exhausted by all of this, and I just feel like enough as far as these fires and disasters,” she said.
With Post wires
