Colo. Black Forest Fire Burns 360 Homes, Chars 15,000 Acres

A fast-moving wildfire burned in and around Colorado's second largest city and remained largely out of control as it entered its third day, threatening to burn more homes as the mandatory evacuation zone around the city of Colorado Springs expanded.

During a Thursday morning press conference, El Paso County Sherriff Terry Maketa said the Black Forest fire had destroyed 360 homes and burned 15,000 acres as of a 2:00 a.m. assessment.

"Those numbers are pretty staggering," Maketa said, according to local Colorado Springs newspaper The Gazette, which is live streaming reports of the unfolding events.

"We saw the fire travel quite a bit and saw quite a bit of devastation from it," Maketa said. "We had to pull our units out because they were getting trapped by the fire."

At daybreak Thursday, Chinook helicopters were ferrying water to douse the Black Forest fire, The Gazette reported.

"The fire zone is alive with the sounds of helicopters bombarding hotspots with water. The fleet includes two huge Chinooks and assorted smaller copters," The Gazette said, adding that thousands of residents have been forced to evacuate a 94,000 acre area, affecting 38,000 residents and 13,000 homes. No deaths have been reported.

"I have not heard of a report of injuries and no information on fatalities at this time," Maketa said.

The Black Forest fire, named after its point of origin, has been a challenge to battle, Maketa said.

"We had tremendous heat and fire," he said. "We had areas burn two days ago, flare up and become so hot we couldn't get into the areas."

Reuters reported a crew of 500 firefighters battling the blaze.

The weather in Colorado, with temperatures this week forecasted to be in the high 90s Fahrenheit (upper 30s Celsius), along with low humidity and strong winds, prompted the National Weather Service to report "very high to extreme fire danger" in the state for most of the week, according to the Reuters report.

"The wind is probably our No. 1 threat," Maketa said. "It has been a game changer. It was very dynamic. And winds today are supposed to pick up and continue on the next few days."