Colorado Wildfire Destroys Around 90 Homes

A wild fire in Colorado destroyed around 90 homes in the Black Forest area , forcing more than 7,000 residents to evacuate.

The wild fire, which erupted on Tuesday was quickly picked up by the winds and raged through Colorado's Black Forest sending panic among the residents.

Officials told reporters that around 80-100 homes were already burned down to the ground.

Hundreds of firefighters from state and federal agencies battled throughout Wednesday to beat back the fires, which were being fueled by gusty winds and unexpectedly high temperatures.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Sheriff Terry Maketa of El Paso County said that the direction of the fire was being shifted abruptly because of the erratic wind conditions. The County Sheriff said the fire might cover at least 3,000 acres.

"We've had incredible wind shifting," said Maketa according to the New York Times.

"The fire has doubled back on properties that we identified as standing that are now engulfed in flames," he added.

Another fire in a neighboring county has forced the closure of one of the state's top tourist attractions, according to the spokesman for El Paso County Dave Rose.

Army National Guard troops have been deployed along with the police in order to prevent looting of the houses left empty following evacuation of thousands of residents in the fire devastated areas.

While investigators were searching for the cause of the fires, the National Weather Service said that high temperature and single-digit humidity combined with gusty winds have created "very high to extreme fire danger in the state for most of the week."