BOULDER, Colo. — After tens of thousands of people were forced to evacuate and hundreds of homes were destroyed as wildfires ripped through entire communities, authorities were hoping weaker winds and snowfall would aid efforts to get the flames under control.
Winter storm warnings and watches were in effect Friday morning in the suburbs between Boulder and Denver where forceful winds a day earlier whipped up the intense wildfires that blitzed the area.
With wind gusts over 100 mph in Boulder County and drier than usual conditions, the blazes destroyed around 600 homes, a Target shopping complex and a hotel in the area around Superior and Louisville, according to Sheriff Joe Pelle.
"There are literally hundreds of homes that burned up in a matter of minutes," Superior Mayor Clint Folsom said Friday on "Good Morning America."
The mayor said first responders tried to move quickly to warn people to leave the area, but the fire was extremely fast. While high-speed wind events are not uncommon in Colorado, Folsom said the winds Thursday were unlike anything he had seen before. The fire was still burning when he left the area around 10 p.m. Thursday, he said.
"I'm fearful of what we might find in the days and days afterward here," Folsom said.
At least one first responder and six people were injured. A hospital reported treating several burn victims. No fatalities or reports of missing people have been reported yet.
'ABSOLUTELY DEVASTATING':Wind-driven Colorado wildfires burn hundreds of homes near Boulder
One fire had burned over 1,600 acres the area, Pelle said at a Thursday news conference.
"It's like the neighborhood that you live in," Gov. Jared Polis said as he described the area being torched. "1,600 acres near a population center can be, and is in this case, absolutely devastating."
Authorities believed downed power lines may have been the cause of the flames.
“This is the kind of fire we can’t fight head on,” Pelle added. “We actually had deputy sheriffs and firefighters in areas that had to pull out because they just got overrun,” he added.
However, there was hope Friday that an incoming winter storm might bring enough wet conditions to slow further damage from the flames.
On Friday morning, at least six plumes of smoke were still lofting into the air above the burn area as dozens of people and evacuees gathered atop a ridge south of Superior to survey the damage.
About 4 to 8 inches of snow was expected between Denver and Boulder through Saturday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.
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Zach Hiris, a meteorologist in the Denver and Boulder Forecast Office, said most of the snow is expected to come overnight into Saturday morning, but about an inch may fall Friday.
"It'll certainly help kind of eliminate some of the (fire) hot spots that are out there," he said.
Hiris called the change from fire conditions to winter storm "a 180" that even by Colorado standards was extreme. "We're kind of flipping the switch very quickly here," he said.
The Denver area was experiencing the driest second half of the year it had on record, the Weather Service said in a tweet. From February to June, precipitation was above normal levels, "but since then, precipitation has flat-lined," the Weather Service said.
Adding to the fire-friendly conditions were triple-digit wind gusts. In Boulder County, winds reached up to 108 mph, and in nearby Jefferson County, they hit 115 mph.
Hiris said the perfect conditions for a mountain wave created the gusty winds Thursday, which combined with the unusually dry conditions helped spark the fires and allowed them to spread so quickly.
Pat Kilbride, who has lived in the Old Town area of Superior for 30 years said his house burned down, killing his dog and cat. He said he believed many other homes were also destroyed.
Kilbride rushed toward his house when he heard the fire was approaching the area but couldn’t get close because of road closures. By the time he arrived on foot, it was already engulfed.
“It’s all gone. The whole Old Town,” he said. “I’m going to head back to my truck and feel sorry for myself.”
Contributing: Doyle Rice, Jeanine Santucci and Christal Hayes, USA TODAY; The Associated Press
