More than 500 houses destroyed and 30,000 people evacuated is the balance of several out-of-control fires in the state of Colorado, local authorities reported on Friday.
The fires, fueled by strong winds of more than 100 kilometers per hour, are spreading with great speed and have forced the evacuation of the towns of Superior, with more than 12,000 inhabitants, and Louisville, with 20,000.
The affected area is located about 30 kilometers northwest of Denver, the state capital.
“We are literally watching (the city) burn. It is devastating for our people,” Superior Mayor Clint Folsom told the Denver Post.
More than 15,000 homes are also without electricity service due to the fall of transmission poles.
The governor of the state, Jared Polis, declared a state of emergency due to the danger of the fires and the difficulty to control them.
At the moment, however, no fatalities have been reported.
Colorado, like many parts of the western United States, has suffered extreme droughts in recent years, facilitating the conditions for the eruption of these rapid and violent fires.
