The enormous wildfire that has already consumed 42,516 acres of forest appears to have finally slowed down a bit and may not destroy the town of South Fork, Colorado as had been feared, according to ABC News.
The fire came within three to five miles of the popular tourist town in southwestern Colorado. South Fork Police Chief James Chavez told ABC news, "We're still here." Chavez also said that on the outskirts of town a line of firefighters and firefighting equipment is prepared to take a stand against the fire if it threatens the town.
The fire is actually three separate fires. The inferno has been fed by perfect fire weather - hot, dry, and windy - and dead trees that were killed by a beetle infestation and are basically serving as kindling for the blaze.
Cindy Shank, a former firefighter and the director of the southwest Colorado chapter of the Red Cross, was amazed by the way that the fire was acting.
"It's like gasoline up there," Shank told Associated Press. "I've never seen a fire do this before. It's really extreme, extreme fire behavior. It has split into two pieces. There are two heads to the fire."
While South Fork is safe for now, officials can't guarantee that the fire won't change direction or start moving faster again. Jim Jaminet, a fire management officer for the Rio Grande National Forest, spoke to the Associated Press about the blaze.
"It will be a couple of days before South Fork is out of danger," Jaminet said. "Every type of structure protection is in place. Every afternoon these things are getting legs and getting up and walking around."
The mayor of South Fork, Kenneth Brooke, has stayed in town to do whatever he can to help firefighters get the town prepared for the fire. After sending his children and grandchildren to a safer location the mayor has been answering calls and trying to calm his constituents even though the news Brooke can share with them is quite ominous.
"I just tell them it doesn't look good," Brooke told the Associated Press. "I tell them the truth, that the fire is coming. I just tell them to keep themselves safe, evacuate as need be and don't come back."
