1 person killed in Colorado wildfires as blazes torch large areas of the U.S. West

LOVELAND, Colo. (AP) — A person was killed in one of several wildfires threatening heavily populated areas of the Colorado foothills, authorities said Wednesday, as almost 100 large blazes burned across the western U.S.

The death came in a fire near the town of Lyons that had burned more than two square miles (five square kilometers) by Wednesday afternoon, authorities said. The person’s remains were discovered at one of five homes that burned, Boulder County Sheriff Curtis Johnson said.

Johnson said detectives were assisting the investigation into the death but declined to provide further details

The Stone Canyon Fire was not growing significantly on Wednesday, Johnson said. It was listed as zero percent contained on a federal wildfire report that said 150 personnel were battling the blaze.

It was one of several large fires burning on Colorado’s Front Range, a densely populated corridor along the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains that includes Denver.

A fire at the edge of the Denver metro area west of the small town of Conifer triggered the evacuation orders for about 575 houses from several subdivisions overnight Tuesday. That fire was less than one square mile (2.5 square kilometers) as of midday Wednesday but was expected to grow with temperatures forecast to reach nearly 100 degrees (38 Celsius).

A third large fire was burning west of the town of Loveland, where rural residents have been under evacuation orders since Monday.

A plane was dropping fire retardant and four helicopters were dropping water from a nearby reservoir on that fire. The fire was burning in open land in steep terrain, making it hard to fight the flames on the ground, said Mark Techmeyer, a spokesperson for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

“Every neighborhood in this facility is at risk. This fire is not an easy fight. The terrain is treacherous. It is very steep,” he said.

Hot, dry weather and localized wind gusts of up to 30 mph (50 kph) were expected across the Front Range on Wednesday, elevating the fire danger, government forecasters said. The hot temperatures were expected to continue into early next week but winds were forecast to remain light in coming days, which would make it easier to control blazes.

Colorado National Guard units were activated to help with the fires, which were expected to continue for weeks, Gov. Jared Polis said. It’s the first time the guard has been used in such fashion since a December 2021 fire in heavily populated suburbs between Denver and Boulder that killed two people and destroyed nearly 1,100 homes, he said.

Across the U.S. almost 28,000 firefighters were battling 95 large fires, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Almost 7,000 square miles (18,000 square kilometers) have burned nationwide so far this year, an area nearly the size of New Jersey and well above the 10-year average for this time of year.

Evacuation orders were in effect for more than two dozen fires.

Fires in southeastern Wyoming triggered evacuations in Hartville, which has about 65 people, and the unincorporated community of Pleasant Valley. Helicopters and heavy tankers were being used against the fires, which had grown to about 47 square miles (120 square kilometers) by Wednesday morning, Gov. Mark Gordon said in an online post.

In Northern California, the massive Park Fire has scorched 609 square miles (1,577 square kilometers), according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The blaze started in Butte County last week after authorities say a man pushed a burning car down a ravine in the city of Chico. That fire has destroyed 361 structures and threatens thousands more. The suspect, Ronnie Dean Stout II, was recently charged with arson. His public defender, Nicole Diamond, said in an email that she had no comment.

Some progress against the fire was made after a bout of cooler temperatures, more humidity and calmer winds in the last few days.

Fire officials hoped to take advantage of milder weather Wednesday ahead of triple-digit temperatures forecast for Thursday and expected to last through next week.

The northern Sierra Nevada could also see showers or thunderstorms Friday and Saturday, the National Weather Service said.

“We’re going into the heart of the fire season starting in August. We’ve got a long road ahead of us,” Billy See, a Cal Fire incident commander for the Park Fire, told crew leaders Wednesday. “Take advantage of the conditions we have today, double down and move forward.”

In Southern California, firefighters made progress on fires sweeping through the Sequoia National Forest that led to evacuations in two counties.

One of the blazes, the Borel Fire, scorched through almost the entirety of the historic mining town of Havilah, officials said. The fires burning throughout the state have overwhelmed California’s firefighting capacity and outside help has begun to arrive, officials said.

Large fires were also burning in states including Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Montana.

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Brown reported from Billings, Montana, Rodriguez reported from San Francisco and Slevin reported from Denver.