Hundreds of homes have been evacuated in Western U.S. states, ABC News reports, as firefighters attack dozens of wildfires where hot and windy conditions persist.
A 300-acre forest fire in Huerfano County, Colo. forced at least 175 people to stay at a Red Cross shelter set up at a local high school, and in Arizona, firefighters battled a Prescott National Forest fire that blazed through almost 12 square miles, leading to the evacuation of 460 homes.
A fire near Denver was burning in a heavily forested area near where another had damaged and destroyed 23 homes and killed three people last year, known as the Lower North Fork Fire. Some residents told ABC News that they were ready to evacuate within minutes after practicing such procedures following last year's devastation.
Local resident Karalyn Pytel told ABC News that she was at home when her husband called to tell her about the Denver areaa fire, saying he had received an emergency alert on his cell phone instructing the family to evacuate. Pytel grabbed her 6-year old daughter's favorite blanket, a laptop, jewelry box and some family heirlooms before quickly leaving her home.
"I grabbed a laundry basket and just threw stuff in it. I don't even know what clothes they are," Pytel said to ABC News as she arrived at an evacuation center.
Two Air Force Reserve C-130s arrived to drop slurry around the Denver area fire, according to the Jackson Free Press, Airlift Wing spokesperson Ann Skarban told the Press that the specially equipped cargo planes were operating out of Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in suburban Denver, as the C-130s had just finished fighting a 22-square mile wildfire near Colorado Springs that destroyed 509 homes and killed two people. Other Colorado fires created large clouds of thick, black smoke.
An 850-acre wildfire in Rio Blanco County in Colorado's northwest corner shut down oil and gas facilities, the Bureau of Land Management said to ABC News. Firefighters protecting nearby buildings spotted embers up to half a mile away from the blaze.
A fire in New Mexico's Gila National Forest has grown to 57 square miles, according to ABC News, just as firefighters are setting up protective barriers around a nearby historic mining town.
California has also been affected by wildfires, including a Yosemite National Park blaze in Northern California on Sunday that caused nearly 800 home evacuations. A nearly 6-square mile fire in Southern California at the San Bernardino National Forest was contained by 83 percent.
"No matter where you go, really, it's always something. It's either a tornado, a hurricane, an earthquake [or] a fire. For us, it's our tornado," Pytel said.
