By Associated Press
DENVER — Crews in northern Colorado faced powerful winds Sunday as they battled a blaze that has scorched 87 square miles of mountainous forest land and destroyed at least 181 homes, the most in state history. Meanwhile, local authorities are focusing on another concern — looting.
The destructiveness of the High Park Fire burning 15 miles west of Fort Collins surpassed the Fourmile Canyon wildfire, which destroyed 169 homes west of Boulder in September 2010.
The firefighting force has steadily increased and by Sunday night officials said about 1,750 personnel were working on the fire, which was sparked by lightning and was 45 percent contained.
Julie Berney with the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office said firefighters dealt with winds of 30 mph with gusts of up to 50 mph Sunday. Some rain moved through Saturday evening, but it wasn’t enough to quell the fire.
“The problem is that when you have a fire like this, even if it rains it evaporates before it hits the ground,” Berney said.
Despite the winds, fire officials said crews Sunday were able to maintain most existing fire lines, with the fire chewing through about 1,000 more acres.
Incident commander Bill Hahnenberg said he was pleased with the firefighters’ progress.
“A scenario could be we’ll lose some line, and then we just go after it the next day and the next day,” he said. “We’re going to do everything we can to protect facilities, and we’re prepared to do that.”
On Sunday afternoon, high winds prompted fire managers to ground all helicopters working on the blaze and to send 96 notices to residents, ordering the immediate evacuation of the Hewlett Gulch Subdivision in the Poudre Canyon area north of the fire. It was unclear how many homes were affected.
Sunday night, Larimer County officials said evacuations orders were also issued for Soldier Canyon and Mill Canyon areas. The officials said 331 notifications were sent.
Rich Baker told CBS station KCNC that he was forced to leave the home he built from the ground up.
“It’s been hard,” he told KCNC, “We’re just praying to the good lord it’ll still be there.
KCNC’s Rick Sallinger reports that, in one neighborhood, evacuees were allowed back home on Sunday, only to be told soon after that they had to leave again, and fast.
“We unpacked everything when we got home. Now we’ve got nothing. We’ve got nothing at all,” lamented one such unlucky resident.
A high wind warning was in effect all day, and crews are expecting more of the same Monday: winds of 30-50 mph, low humidity and high temperatures.
As firefighters try to get the upper hand on the blaze, which has burned large swaths of private and U.S. Forest Service land, local authorities have dispatched roving patrols to combat looting.
On Sunday, deputies arrested 30-year-old Michael Stillman Maher, of Denver, on charges including theft and impersonating a firefighter. The sheriff’s department said Maher was driving through the fire zone with phony firefighter credentials and a stolen government license plate.
His truck was later seen near a bar in Laporte, and investigators say they found a firearm and stolen property in the vehicle.
“There’s a handful out there that are taking advantage of others,” said Sheriff Justin Smith, adding that “if somebody’s sneaking around back there, we’re going to find them.”
Copyright 2012 Associated Press