Last Updated 11:26 a.m. ET
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. A wildfire burning near Colorado Springs has destroyed at least 360 homes, making it the most destructive in the state's history.
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[h=3]Wildfires rage in Colorado[/h]
El Paso County sheriff Terry Maketa said Thursday that deputies still haven't been able to verify the condition of 79 homes as the wildfire continues to burn. So it's possible the figure could rise even higher.
The fire is burning near where the Waldo Canyon fire burned 347 homes last year; that was previously the most destructive in Colorado history.
Deputies from the El Paso County Sheriff's Office went door-to-door overnight evacuating more people as danger from a wildfire increased dramatically.
Sheriff's officials released a preliminary list Wednesday showing the Black Forest Fire northeast of Colorado Springs has destroyed at least 92 homes and damaged five more.
The fire was among several that surged rapidly Tuesday along Colorado's Front Range.
Fueled by hot temperatures, changing gusts, and thick, bone-dry forests, the Black Forest Fire has prompted evacuation orders and pre-evacuation notices to between 9,000 and 9,500 people and to about 3,500 homes and businesses, sheriff's officials said.
The fire was still zero percent contained early Thursday, and was covering some 8,500 acres, but officials said the estimate could grow to as many as 11,000 acres, reports CBS Colorado Springs affiliate KKTV.
Some 500 firefighters were battling the blaze, says CBS Denver station KCNC.
Jaenette Coyne estimates she had five minutes to leave home after calling 911 to report forest fire smoke behind her home.
There was no time to grab wedding albums, fingerprint artwork by her 20-month-old daughter, quilts her grandmother made, her family's three cats.
"We left with nothing," she said.
She and her husband later watched on television this week as flames engulfed their house.
"I don't know how to tell you in words what it felt like," she said. "It's the worst thing I've ever felt in my whole life."
Part of neighboring Elbert County, including two camps with a total of about 1,250 children and adults, also was evacuated.
A separate Colorado wildfire to the south has destroyed 20 structures, including some in Royal Gorge Bridge & Park, and prompted evacuations of about 250 residents and nearly 1,000 medium-security prison inmates who were taken to other facilities. To the north, another fire burned in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Wildfires also were burning in New Mexico, Oregon and California, where a smokejumper was killed fighting one of dozens of lightning-sparked fires.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Forest Service mobilized a pair of Defense Department cargo planes to help — a step taken only when all of the Forest Service's 12 contracted tankers are in use. At least one was fighting the Black Forest Fire.
No injuries or deaths have been reported, but El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa said officials are trying to confirm the whereabouts of one person reported missing.
The area is not far from last summer's Waldo Canyon Fire that destroyed 346 homes and killed two people.
In northeast California, Luke Sheehy was fatally injured this week by part of a falling tree in Modoc National Forest. The 28-year-old from Susanville, Calif., was a member of the Redding-based California Smokejumpers — firefighters who parachute into remote areas from airplanes.
In New Mexico, a wildfire in the steep, narrow canyons of the Pecos Wilderness north of Santa Fe grew to more than 12 square miles Wednesday. Crews planned to build fire lines and clear out fuel miles ahead of the blaze in hopes of protecting communities if the fire heads toward them.
In southwestern New Mexico, firefighters were trying to keep a massive wildfire from reaching an old mining town whose 45 or so residents have been evacuated. That fire was burning in a mountainous area of dense forest.
An aerial view of the Silver Fire, near Kingston, N.M., June 12, 2013. On Thursday the fire had spread to 17,000 acres, double the previous day.
/ KRQE
About 60 miles southwest of Colorado's Black Forest Fire, a 4.5-square-mile wildfire that evacuated Royal Gorge Bridge & Park has destroyed 20 structures, including some in the park.
The Royal Gorge suspension bridge spanning a canyon across the Arkansas River has fire damage to 32 of its 1,292 wooden planks, city officials said. An aerial tram car and tram buildings on either side of the gorge were destroyed, and the tram cable fell into the gorge. An incline railway descending 1,500 feet to the canyon floor was damaged.
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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. A wildfire burning near Colorado Springs has destroyed at least 360 homes, making it the most destructive in the state's history.
[h=3]Wildfires rage in Colorado[/h]
El Paso County sheriff Terry Maketa said Thursday that deputies still haven't been able to verify the condition of 79 homes as the wildfire continues to burn. So it's possible the figure could rise even higher.
The fire is burning near where the Waldo Canyon fire burned 347 homes last year; that was previously the most destructive in Colorado history.
Deputies from the El Paso County Sheriff's Office went door-to-door overnight evacuating more people as danger from a wildfire increased dramatically.
Sheriff's officials released a preliminary list Wednesday showing the Black Forest Fire northeast of Colorado Springs has destroyed at least 92 homes and damaged five more.
The fire was among several that surged rapidly Tuesday along Colorado's Front Range.
Fueled by hot temperatures, changing gusts, and thick, bone-dry forests, the Black Forest Fire has prompted evacuation orders and pre-evacuation notices to between 9,000 and 9,500 people and to about 3,500 homes and businesses, sheriff's officials said.
The fire was still zero percent contained early Thursday, and was covering some 8,500 acres, but officials said the estimate could grow to as many as 11,000 acres, reports CBS Colorado Springs affiliate KKTV.
Some 500 firefighters were battling the blaze, says CBS Denver station KCNC.
Jaenette Coyne estimates she had five minutes to leave home after calling 911 to report forest fire smoke behind her home.
There was no time to grab wedding albums, fingerprint artwork by her 20-month-old daughter, quilts her grandmother made, her family's three cats.
"We left with nothing," she said.
She and her husband later watched on television this week as flames engulfed their house.
"I don't know how to tell you in words what it felt like," she said. "It's the worst thing I've ever felt in my whole life."
Part of neighboring Elbert County, including two camps with a total of about 1,250 children and adults, also was evacuated.
A separate Colorado wildfire to the south has destroyed 20 structures, including some in Royal Gorge Bridge & Park, and prompted evacuations of about 250 residents and nearly 1,000 medium-security prison inmates who were taken to other facilities. To the north, another fire burned in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Wildfires also were burning in New Mexico, Oregon and California, where a smokejumper was killed fighting one of dozens of lightning-sparked fires.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Forest Service mobilized a pair of Defense Department cargo planes to help — a step taken only when all of the Forest Service's 12 contracted tankers are in use. At least one was fighting the Black Forest Fire.
No injuries or deaths have been reported, but El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa said officials are trying to confirm the whereabouts of one person reported missing.
The area is not far from last summer's Waldo Canyon Fire that destroyed 346 homes and killed two people.
In northeast California, Luke Sheehy was fatally injured this week by part of a falling tree in Modoc National Forest. The 28-year-old from Susanville, Calif., was a member of the Redding-based California Smokejumpers — firefighters who parachute into remote areas from airplanes.
In New Mexico, a wildfire in the steep, narrow canyons of the Pecos Wilderness north of Santa Fe grew to more than 12 square miles Wednesday. Crews planned to build fire lines and clear out fuel miles ahead of the blaze in hopes of protecting communities if the fire heads toward them.
In southwestern New Mexico, firefighters were trying to keep a massive wildfire from reaching an old mining town whose 45 or so residents have been evacuated. That fire was burning in a mountainous area of dense forest.
/ KRQE
About 60 miles southwest of Colorado's Black Forest Fire, a 4.5-square-mile wildfire that evacuated Royal Gorge Bridge & Park has destroyed 20 structures, including some in the park.
The Royal Gorge suspension bridge spanning a canyon across the Arkansas River has fire damage to 32 of its 1,292 wooden planks, city officials said. An aerial tram car and tram buildings on either side of the gorge were destroyed, and the tram cable fell into the gorge. An incline railway descending 1,500 feet to the canyon floor was damaged.
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