A wildfire in southwestern Colorado has grown to about 360 acres, and residents of a half-dozen subdivisions near Durango have been told to be ready to evacuate.
The Durango Herald reports some residents who had already left their homes were escorted back in Thursday to retrieve belongings, livestock and pets.
One house has been destroyed and about 170 have been evacuated near the fire. A campground was also evacuated.
The fire was reported Wednesday. Firefighter spokesman Scot Davis said investigators had not determined the source because the ground was too hot for them to safely examine the area.
Gov. John Hickenlooper declared a disaster emergency earlier Thursday, allowing the National Guard to help if needed. The state also sent aircraft to help ground crews.
In Arizona, Some Residents Allowed Home
Authorities expect to allow more evacuated residents to go home and to reopen a major route through an Arizona community that barely escaped destruction when a massive wildfire swept into town.
The fire, which is about 100 miles north of Phoenix, triggered evacuations for thousands of residents in a half-dozen communities and came close to consuming the town of Mayer.
The incident commander got a big cheer at a community meeting Thursday night when he announced crews had secured lines around about 43 percent of the blaze, which has consumed about 45 square miles of brush and forest. Still, John Pierson warned several hundred people that the fire could become more active and cause more damage.
"We're still not out of the woods yet," Pierson told those gathered in a church in Prescott Valley.
