At least 2 die in wildfire; residents flee
At least two people died when a wind-driven wildfire swept across the plains about 120 miles southeast of Denver, and a pilot died when a single-engine plane crashed while fighting a wildfire at Ft. Carson. Authorities evacuated 1,110 residents -- almost the entire population -- from Ordway as the flames closed in.
Crowley County Sheriff’s Deputy Bill Hamilton confirmed the two deaths near Ordway, though he could not immediately provide details. The blaze scorched about 10 square miles before it reached the city limits and damaged at least 20 buildings.
Television footage shot from a KCNC-TV helicopter showed at least three houses engulfed in flames on the city’s outskirts. A third grass fire near Carbondale in the mountains west of Denver injured one person and damaged two homes.
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