Wildfire tears across Colorado

GRIM TASK: Authorities in Colorado are searching for several people who didn't leave their homes as a wildfire tore through a canyon in the foothills near Boulder.

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A wildfire burning in the canyons and steep mountainsides near Boulder became one of the most destructive blazes in Colorado history on Wednesday as authorities determined it had destroyed nearly 150 homes in just three days.

Authorities provided the dire assessment as firefighters encountered a tangle of rattlesnakes, downed power lines and combustible propane tanks and struggled to get an upper hand on the inferno.

The Boulder County sheriff's office said on Wednesday that 136 homes have been destroyed - a toll likely to rise as the blaze rages on and firefighters get a clearer picture of the damage.

About 3500 people have been evacuated from about 1000 homes stemming from a fire that broke out in a parched area near of Boulder on Monday. Four people remain missing as some residents have stayed behind and risked their lives to try to save their homes.

No deaths or injuries have been reported at this point, and the cause of the fire was not known.

The fire west of Boulder is not large in terms of size - only about 2509 hectares, or about 25.9 sq kilometres. But it struck in a populated area that inflicted major property damage.

The reported loss of homes surpasses that of the 2002 Hayman fire in southern Colorado that was the most destructive in the state's history.

That fire destroyed 133 homes and 466 outbuildings over 138,000 acres in a more sparsely populated area that includes national forest land.

Firefighters took advantage of cooler temperatures and light rain to attack the wildfire on Wednesday but authorities acknowledged they still don't have a good handle of the blaze. Fire officials scheduled a meeting night on the University of Colorado campus to update the community.

"We just don't have control of the fire," Sheriff's Cmdr. Rick Brough said Wednesday afternoon as some rain began falling over the fire area.

Air tankers dumped 132,485 litres of fire retardant on the blaze and crews began building containment lines on the eastern side of the fire.

The large plume of smoke the fire had been producing since it started has dissipated because of the favourable weather. However, the fire was still actively burning and threatening structures, forcing some deputies doing an inventory of the damage to retreat.

Laura McConnell, a spokeswoman for the fire management team, said as many as 300 firefighters are at the fire and more are on the way.

She said they're dealing with downed power lines, debris, poison ivy and rattlesnakes. They also have to be watchful for propane tanks in the area.

Brough said the conditions make it too dangerous for anxious residents to return to check on their homes. The fire has also destroyed at least four outbuildings and damaged at least 12 homes, according to a list released by the Boulder County sheriff's office.

At the Colorado Mountain Ranch, 60-year-old Mike Walker has been making a stand against the fire with his wife and 25-year-old daughter in a desperate effort to save the children's summer camp and outdoor recreation center they operate.

"He's safe, he's up there," said Walker's 19-year-old daughter Rose, who evacuated. "He just won't leave. We never doubted where he was, he just won't leave for anybody."

Fire conditions were expected to worsen on Thursday night into Friday and the risk of any new fires quickly spreading was high along the populated Front Range region, according to the National Weather Service.

Seven of the country's 19 heavy air tankers have been sent to Colorado to fight the blaze, considered the nation's top firefighting priority.

Two more have been dispatched to the fire, said Ken Frederick, spokesman for the National Interagency Fire Centre in Boise, Idaho.

- AP