Nearly 150 homes destroyed, 3,500 evacuated in Colorado fire

BOULDER, Colo. — A wildfire burning in the canyons and steep mountainsides near Boulder became one of the most destructive blazes in Colorado's history Wednesday as authorities determined it had destroyed nearly 150 homes in three days.

Authorities provided the assessment as firefighters encountered a tangle of rattlesnakes, downed power lines and combustible propane tanks as they battled the inferno.

The Boulder County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday that at least 136 homes have been destroyed, a toll likely to rise.

About 3,500 people have been evacuated from about 1,000 homes because of a fire that began near Boulder on Monday.

Some residents stayed behind and risked their lives to try to save their homes. Four people were listed as missing, but no deaths or injuries have been reported. The cause of the fire was not known.

The fire west of Boulder is not large in terms of size: about 6,200 acres, or about 10 square miles. But it struck in a populated area that inflicted major property damage.

The reported loss of homes surpasses that of the 2002 Hayman fire in southern Colorado that was the most destructive in state history. That fire destroyed 133 homes and 466 outbuildings over 138,000 acres in a more sparsely populated area that includes national-forest land.

"We just don't have control of the fire," Sheriff's Cmdr. Rick Brough said Wednesday as rain began falling over the fire area.

Laura McConnell, a spokeswoman for the fire-management team, said up to 300 firefighters are at the fire and more are on the way. She said they're dealing with downed power lines, debris, poison ivy and rattlesnakes. They also have to be watchful for propane tanks in the area.

Fire conditions were expected to worsen Thursday, and the risk of any new fires quickly spreading was high along the populated Front Range region, according to the National Weather Service.

Seven of the country's 19 heavy air tankers have been sent to Colorado to fight the blaze, considered the nation's top firefighting priority. Two more are on the way, said Ken Frederick, spokesman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

William Bradshaw has grown restless watching the smoke plume over Boulder as he stays in a shelter at the YMCA.

"I don't know if my house has burnt to the ground but not just my house, but all the precious things that I have accumulated in my lifetime," he said.

The belongings left behind include the ashes and fingerprints of his son, who died at 16.

Associated Press writer Ivan Moreno contributed to this report.