Firefighters battling the Black Forest wildfire in Colorado say the blaze has surpassed last June’s Waldo Canyon fire as the most destructive in the state’s history. The blaze has taken two lives and destroyed 379 homes, while last year’s fire burned 347 homes and took two lives.
Officials report that the fire is now 5 percent contained. “So, not much progress,” Rich Harvey, the commander of the federal incident-management team that took over firefighting duties early Thursday, told . “We’ve got a ways to go.” Firefighters managed to prevent the blaze from moving south and crews are have more success as it moves north and into more grassy areas.
In a setback, the fire lurched toward a large community of homes on the western edge of the blaze. Despite an aerial assault from slurry bombers, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Mayor Steve Bach issued a new evacuation order for areas inside the city limits. The total evacuation zone for the fire reached 24 square miles with 38,000 people displaced Thursday night.