Marshall Fire Grows To 1,600 Acres, Hundreds Of Homes Burned

BOULDER, CO — The Marshall Fire spread to 1,600 acres Thursday evening in Boulder County, and burned almost 600 homes, officials said. Thousands of residents in Superior, Louisville, Broomfield and other cities and areas were evacuated.

The fire was one of several that started in the region as winds gusted up to 110 mph and spread the fires rapidly, weather officials said.

All residents in Superior and Louisville were evacuated, and Broomfield residents south of U.S. 36 to 112th and west of Wadsworth — including the Interlocken area — were evacuated. Westminster residents in the Meadow View neighborhood, near 107th Avenue west of Country Side Drive, were under mandatory evacuation orders as of 9 p.m. Thursday.

The areas between Highway 93 and Standley Lake north of 82nd Avenue in Arvada and Westminster were under pre-evacuation orders late Thursday night.

Gov. Jared Polis declared a state of emergency in response to the fires. The declaration allows the state to access disaster emergency funds and provide state resources to battle the fires and help victims.

The evacuees were asked to go to the South Boulder Recreation Center or the YMCA of Northern Colorado, at 2800 Dagny Way, in Lafayette; however, a power outage hit the South Boulder recreation center and evacuees were moved to the North Boulder Recreation Center and the YMCA.

The city of Boulder activated its Emergency Operations Center in response to the fires.

If you see a fire, evacuate, the Boulder Office of Emergency Management said.

"Go east, go north, but leave immediately," the office said in a tweet.

Six burn victims were being treated at UCHealth Broomfield, officials confirmed. Their condition was not known.

Poor visibility was reported on many roadways because of the smoke, so drivers are urged to use caution.

Hwy 93 was closed at CR 170, and U.S. 36 was shut down Thursday eastbound between Colorado Avenue and West Flatiron Crossing Drive, eastbound at Baseline and westbound at Interlocken.

A large animal evacuation site opened at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont; however, the site was full by 6 p.m. Thursday, and officials asked residents to bring their animals to the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, 15200 W 6th Ave Frontage Rd., in Golden.

Leah Angstman and her husband saw similar skies while returning to their Louisville home from Denver International Airport after being away for the holidays. As they were sitting on the bus going toward Boulder, Angstman recalled instantly leaving clear blue skies and entering clouds of brown and yellow smoke.

“The wind rocked the bus so hard that I thought the bus would tip,” she wrote in a message to The Associated Press.

The visibility was so poor that the bus had to pull over and they waited a half-hour until a regional transit authority van escorted them to a turnaround on the highway. There she saw four separate fires burning in bushes across the freeway, she said.

“The sky was dark, dark brown, and the dirt was blowing in swirls across the sidewalk like snakes,” she said.

A high wind warning was issued for Boulder on Thursday.

"Damaging winds may blow down trees and power lines," the weather alert read Thursday morning.

"Widespread power outages are expected. Travel will be difficult, especially for high profile vehicles."

The strongest winds at lower elevations hit near the base of the foothills from north Boulder, to Fort Collins, to the Wyoming border, weather officials said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.