By Kristen Wyatt
The Associated Press
CONIFER, Colo. — A second person was found dead in the area burned by a wildfire that has destroyed at least 16 homes and forced hundreds to flee the mountainous area southwest of Denver, authorities said Tuesday. A third person was missing from the same area where the two people were found dead.
The second body was found Tuesday inside a structure, Jefferson County sheriff’s spokeswoman Jacki Kelley said. The body of another person was found outside that same structure on Monday.
Authorities do not yet know whether the deaths were caused by the fire, which has grown to about 7 square miles.
The first victim wasn’t a firefighter or an emergency responder, sheriff’s spokeswoman Jacki Kelley said.
The fire is burning several miles and mountain ridges west of Denver’s tightly populated southwestern suburbs, which are not under threat. The area of pines and grassland is mountainous and sparsely populated, dotted with hamlets and the occasional expensive home. It is about 25 miles southwest of Denver at an altitude that ranges from 7,000 to 8,200 feet.
Kelley had said earlier that the wildfire may have been a controlled burn from last week that sprang back to life because of strong wind gusts.
Ryan Lockwood, a spokesman for the Colorado State Forest Service, said his agency conducted the controlled burn on Thursday on land belonging to the Denver Water Board as part of an ongoing attempt to reduce fire danger. Such burns are usually done to thin out vegetation.
“This has been going on for the past year,” Lockwood said.
Stacy Chesney, a spokeswoman for Denver Water, said decisions about prescribed burns are left to the state forest service, which has a contract for protecting land that feeds into reservoirs. Chesney said wildfires can damage water sheds, so the agency was “trying to be proactive.”
About 900 homes have been evacuated and more remained under threat.
Strong winds fanned the flames, preventing air crews from spraying retardant and keeping firefighters mostly on the defensive on Monday. With winds lighter Tuesday, firefighters were attacking the fire on the ground and dropping slurry from an air tanker.
“The wind will really tell the story today,” Kelley said.
Video from KUSA-TV’s helicopter showed one home burned to its foundation with a flicker burning in the rubble. Another home appeared untouched, a car parked in the driveway, although land across the road was charred.
One evacuee left behind a Corvette and a small airplane to escape the flames. Cindi Sjaardema said it was the first time in 34 years that she has had to flee the area.
“We decided, `Let’s move now,’ thinking we’d make two trips. But when we left, we passed a checkpoint and they said we couldn’t go back,” she said. “My husband argued with the guy, said, `I left a Corvette back there, I’m going back.’ But I said, `No way. It’s insured. It’s just stuff.’ We got out, and thank God.”
At nearby Conifer High School, where two dozen residents spent the night Monday, authorities posted detailed maps of the fire’s path. Evacuees turned in addresses and phone numbers to be contacted if their homes were destroyed.
They were told to sit tight and enjoy snacks and board games, but most milled around a TV showing news updates on the fire.
“We’re staying close to find out what we can,” Rose Applegate said.
Daniel Hatlestad, a spokesman for the Jefferson County Incident Management Team, told residents they could be in for a wait. “We will not be able to allow any citizens back into that area (until) at least the end of the day — and that’s not a promise,” he said.
He said rescuers brought out an unknown number of people who were trying to flee by car but were forced to pull over because of low visibility. Hatlestad said winds neared 90 mph Monday evening, so even cars couldn’t outrace the smoke.
“We were pushing people and dogs and cats into fire trucks,” he said.