Fires ravage Colorado

FLORISSANT, Colo. -- With the largest wildfire in Colorado's history blazing outside Denver, firefighters moved into position ahead of the flames Wednesday to try to block its path toward the city's southwestern suburbs.\nThe wind-driven blaze was moving slowly to the northeast and had gotten to within about 35 miles of Denver. The fire, which covered about 136 square miles or 87,000 acres, had destroyed 21 homes and threatened 2,500.\nFire crews were set to start building fire lines and setting backfires a few miles away from the northern side of the blaze, fire information officer Dianna Barney said.\nEarlier, the blaze had been considered too dangerous to allow firefighters onto its northern fringes -- between the flames and homes in Douglas County, one of the fastest-growing areas in the country.\nFirefighters also were trying to defend houses threatened by the blaze on its southeast side in Teller County, where 400 people were evacuated Tuesday. More evacuations were ordered in the Tarryall area in Park County, on the fire's northwestern edges.\nAbout 5,430 people had been evacuated since the fire started Saturday, fire information officer Barb Masinton said Wednesday.\n"We're still dealing with a wind-driven fire, and some terrain issues," she said. "The winds are switching around."\nAmong the evacuees was Dave Pierce, who left his home Sunday and moved his wife and their two dogs to a Red Cross shelter.\n"All I want to do is go home, get a shower and go to work," Pierce said Wednesday.\nThe blaze, which was sparked by a campfire in the Pike National Forest, was within seven miles of Roxborough, a small town on the far southwest edge of the metro area.\nIt was one of at least eight fires in Colorado, including a 10,600-acre blaze that destroyed 28 homes near Glenwood Springs, about 150 miles west of Denver.\nAbout 540 people were working on the fire, and 800 more firefighters were requested.\nThe Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved 11 grants for Colorado fires this year, the latest one on Tuesday for an 8,300-acre fire near Durango.\nOn Tuesday, shifting wind helped clear a dense, smoky haze that had blanketed Denver for three days.\n"I don't know of another situation where we've had this much smoke emission that you could associate with a single fire," said Steven Arnold of the state Health Department's air pollution control division.\nInvestigators continued to search for the owner of a vehicle seen near the illegal campfire believed to have started the fire Saturday near Lake George, about 60 miles southwest of Denver.\nFires are banned in national forests and most counties because of Colorado's drought. The Pike National Forest has been closed to the public.\nNear Glenwood Springs, lower temperatures and lighter wind helped quell the fire there and thousands of people were allowed to return home -- with a warning that they should be prepared to flee at a moment's notice.\nThe fire had grown to some 10,600 acres. Containment was still estimated at 5 percent, said Betsy Friesen, fire information volunteer.\nNew Mexico firefighters battling flames on 96,000 acres were helped by calmer wind and rising humidity.