It has been incredibly dry and warm the whole March so far. The humidity has been in the single digits or in the teens so it was only a matter of time before the first real wildfire of the year broke loose. There had been some very small ones last week but they were quickly contained. This time it happened on Monday which was another very windy day so it spread like a, well, a wildfire. The area is south-west of Denver in the Jefferson County area right next to the Rockies. Yesterday the winds blew the smoke up towards the southern parts of the Denver metro area and people were advised to stay indoors.
It's now about 30 hours since the fire started and the reports say that it's still 0% contained. 23 homes have already been destroyed including one which had an elderly couple inside taking them with it. One other person is also missing and over 900 homes have been evacuated while some 6,500 homes are on standby, ready to be evacuated at any minute. At least the winds have slowed down today which has allowed the firefighting planes to get airborne.
A news report from the early stages of the fire on Monday:
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