Three people are missing and feared dead after a fierce wildfire tore through several towns in Colorado, destroying nearly 1,000 homes, authorities said on Saturday.
“We’re very fortunate that we don’t have a list of 100 missing. But unfortunately we do have three confirmed missing people,” Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle was quoted by Reuters as saying. He said the search for the missing had been hampered by the destruction and snow.
At least 991 homes have been destroyed by the destructive blaze that roared through the towns of Superior and Louisville on Thursday, prompting thousands of evacuations.
The rare urban wildfire that erupted Thursday morning on the northern outskirts of the Denver metropolitan area is said to be the most destructive wildfire in state history in terms of residences lost.
The fire, which was sparked in a tinder-dry landscape, was then fanned by winds gusting at more than 100 miles (160 kilometres) an hour.
U.S. President Joe Biden has declared the scene a national disaster, freeing up federal funds to assist affected people and businesses in recovery efforts, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said in a statement.