Two people are still missing after the devastating fire in the US state of Colorado. Of three people who were initially reported missing, one has now been found alive and well, the Boulder district police said on Sunday. Embers in the snow-covered ruins made the search more difficult.
The fire on Thursday destroyed almost a thousand houses in two suburbs of the Denver metropolis. Aerial photos of the towns of Superior and Louisville showed entire streets in which the houses had burned to the ground.
Superior, USA. This satellite photo provided by Maxar Technologies shows burning houses in a new development area.
© Uncredited / Maxar Technologies / AP / DPA
According to the authorities on Saturday, almost 1,000 houses and other buildings had been destroyed near the city of Boulder. It is to be expected that the number of burned down and damaged buildings will increase with closer inspections.
What started the “Marshall Fire”?
The cause of the “Marshall Fire” initially remained unclear. This will continue to be investigated, said the governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, on the news channel CNN. Officials had initially speculated that the fires, which are atypical for the winter in the region, were triggered when the wind tore power lines to the ground. However, Police Chief Joe Pelle said Saturday no broken power lines had been found. The search for the cause of the fire and the missing is difficult: “Rubble, heat, snow” hindered the investigators, Pelle said. It is difficult to even bring tracking dogs onto the site in order to narrow down the search further.
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A drought that had lasted for months in the region had helped the fire to spread. Remaining embers were covered with around 20 centimeters of fresh snow on Saturday night, which is why the fire was no longer considered threatening. According to media reports, the fire had spread over an area of around 24 square kilometers.
Governor Jared Polis had already declared a state of emergency for the district northwest of the regional capital Denver on Thursday. In the towns of Louisville and Superior, around 34,000 residents should get to safety. US President Joe Biden also approved a declaration of emergency under federal law, which allows additional help for those affected.