Reporting from Boulder, Colo. —
Firefighters intensified their battle Tuesday against a 7,000-acre blaze that destroyed at least 63 structures, driving residents out of a network of densely populated canyons in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains just outside this outdoors-crazed town.
The fire began Monday morning in pine-studded Fourmile Canyon, causing so much chaos that more than 24 hours later officials hadn’t counted all the damaged buildings. By Tuesday evening, authorities had surveyed only half of the scorched area. The homes of at least nine firefighters were among those destroyed. There were no reported injuries.
On Tuesday the winds that had fanned the blaze had died down, but an inversion layer of high-pressure air settled over the fire, keeping smoke close to the ground and preventing air tankers from bombarding it with retardant until later in the day. “It's the tankers that really help us out,” said Rick Brough, a commander with the Boulder County sheriff’s office. “They can knock this fire down.”
Full story: Boulder, canyons, fire: Destructive Colorado fire leaves chaos in its wake – latimes.com