Wildfires

Wildfires – Colorado, USA

Fast-moving wildfires in Colorado swept through suburban areas near Denver on Thursday, prompting the evacuation of tens of thousands of people in Boulder County and burning at least 580 homes, a shopping complex and a hotel, the authorities said.

The wildfires came unusually late in the year for Colorado, where severe drought conditions in recent months have set the stage for such blazes to easily spread.

The fires started on Thursday morning, officials said, and more than 1,600 acres had burned by the evening. The specific cause was unclear as of early Friday morning. Though a number of small blazes burned through Boulder County, some converged into two larger ones that state authorities named the Marshall and Middle Fork fires.

Record Smoke

Huge clouds of smoke from wildfires that again blackened parts of Siberia this year blew northward 1,800 miles, reaching the North Pole for the first time in recorded history. Forestry officials say more than 35 million acres burned over the summer, making it the second-worst fire season this century. Some of the uncontrolled blazes raged on top of permafrost in Russia’s largest and typically coldest region.

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