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A second day of powerful, gusty winds hit the Front Range and Eastern Plains on Wednesday, fueling at least two wildfires in metro Denver and northeastern Colorado and snarling travel at Denver International Airport.
More than 100 firefighters from across the metro area responded to a grass fire that sparked at 11:30 a.m. near Pinnacle Charter High School, 8412 Huron St. in Thornton.
The fire burned across 10 acres of dry, grassy fields and charred vehicles as it produced billows of black smoke visible across the Denver area. Smoke reduced visibility on Interstate 25 to the point that state transportation officials closed the highway in both directions for more than an hour.
Four firefighters and one other person were injured by the fire, Thornton Fire Chief Stephen Kelley said at a briefing at City Hall. Their injuries did not appear to be life-threatening, but no further information on the nature or severity of the injuries was available, Kelley said.
Police officers went door to door Wednesday afternoon to evacuate people after the fire started, and city officials sent out evacuation notices through the statewide Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, Kelley said. Pinnacle Charter High School and several nearby businesses also were evacuated.
Thornton is in the process of switching to a different city emergency alert system and does not have one in place currently, Kelley said.
City leaders could not say how many homes were evacuated and did not provide a map of affected neighborhoods, although officials confirmed most evacuations occurred northeast of the fire.
Flames burned for more than two hours before fire crews gained full containment at 2:07 p.m. Thornton officials lifted evacuations at 3:30 p.m. Kelley said firefighters were to remain in the area overnight to put out hot spots and prevent the fire from rekindling. Continued road closures were likely because of firefighting activity, he said.
No homes were destroyed by the fire, which started on a greenbelt between a residential neighborhood and businesses, Kelley said. The cause of the fire is under investigation and crews are evaluating fire damage to businesses. Although none of the businesses’ buildings appear to be damaged, rows of cars in nearby lots were burned.
“It is our intent to get ahead of these fires so we don’t have the spread … experienced during the Marshall fire,” Kelley said. “I think we’re very fortunate today that we did not have an outcome similar.”
High winds fueled the fire’s “rapid spread” as most of the Front Range and Eastern Plains remained under a red flag warning, Kelley said.
“These are conditions that we continue to face on a daily basis here on the Front Range,” he said.
More than 3,000 Xcel Energy customers lost power because of the fire on Wednesday afternoon, but most outages were resolved by the evening, according to the utility’s outage map.
A second wildfire charred at least an estimated 3,500 acres of grassland in Logan County on Wednesday afternoon, threatening the small town of Padroni and forcing the population of about two dozen residents to evacuate.
The fire was started by a crash on Colorado 113 near Logan County Road 66 at 1:20 p.m. and spread quickly as wind gusts reached 50 mph, emergency officials said.
Logan County officials ordered evacuations between County Road 66 south to Colorado 138 and Colorado 113 east to County Road 65, including Padroni, Peetz, Iliff and the Caliche School.
Fire crews gained 80% containment as of 4:26 p.m., allowing county officials to lift evacuation orders, emergency management officials said on Facebook.
State and local agencies responded to fight the fire, including two air tankers and several farmers with tractors. No damage to structures or injuries to people or livestock was reported, Logan County officials said.
Wind-related problems extended to the skies Wednesday, when the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a ground delay at Denver International Airport because of the weather, delaying nearly 900 flights as gusts peaked at 55 mph.
United Airlines reported 316 delays and four cancellations as of Wednesday night. Southwest had 254 delays, and SkyWest had 218 delays and one canceled flight, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.
High winds may continue to plague Colorado through Friday, although forecasters are not confident about what the next few days will bring, National Weather Service officials said Wednesday night.
Uncertain wind conditions and borderline low humidity levels are enough for forecasters to continue a fire weather watch for communities along the I-25 corridor and the Eastern Plains, forecasters wrote.
A watch means conditions are “favorable for rapid fire spread,” and people should avoid outdoor burning or any activity that produces a spark, according to the agency.
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