COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — As of Friday morning there were not casualties reported as the Marshall fire continued burning through southeast Boulder County — something Sheriff Joe Pelle and Gov. Jared Polis both called “a New Year’s miracle” because of how quickly the fire moved and how little time people had to evacuate.
One person who was considered missing Thursday also has been accounted for and is well, Pelle said.
“That’s awesome news, and, actually, given the events we had yesterday, pretty miraculous,” Pelle said during a Friday morning press conference held at the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office headquarters.
Pelle also said the estimate of at least 500 homes lost remained the same as of Friday morning, but officials don’t yet have an exact number of structures lost or damaged. There are about 2,000 homes in the burn area, which grew on Friday morning to more than 6,000 acres after the fire began around 11 a.m. Thursday at South Foothills Highway and Marshall Road.
Approximately 35,000 people from the towns of Superior and Louisville were evacuated Thursday as wildfires raged amid high winds, with some gusts over 100 miles an hour, Incident Cmdr. Mike Smith said.
“Our first priority was life preservation,” Smith said. “At certain points we could not even actively fight the fire. We just had to concentrate on getting everyone out safely.”
Officials still have not determined the exact cause of the Marshall fire. Downed power lines were originally suspected of sparking the blaze, but as of early Friday afternoon Xcel Energy had inspected all their power lines in the ignition area and found no downed ones, officials said. Xcel Energy crews did find some “compromised” communication lines — such as telephone, cable and internet lines — that may have been misidentified as power lines, officials said. Communications lines typically are not the cause of a fire, they said.
The Boulder County Office of Emergency Management, which is responding to the fire, will eventually post the addresses and status of homes on its website, Pelle said, but that information won’t be available for at least a day.
In the meantime, people may call 303-413-7730 for general questions and updates on neighborhoods, Pelle said. They should not call 911.
Officials also urged people Friday to stay out of the evacuation areas and adhere to road closures as first responders address active hot spots, downed power lines and trees at risk of falling; conduct property searches; assess damage; and investigate the fire’s cause, officials said Friday.
There are currently no escorted tours of the area.
Incident management teams are also working with utility companies to restore water and gas service to undamaged areas and turn off utilities to damaged areas, the office said, part of efforts to protect homes from freezing temperatures expected Friday night.
Xcel Energy has restored power to about 80% of affected residents in the area and will work Friday to restore power to approximately 15,000 residents still without it, the company announced on its website. Restoration could take several days, Xcel officials said.
Louisville and Superior residents must now also use bottled water or boil any water to be used for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes and preparing food until further notice, as officials said issues with water pressure could potentially contaminate the water.
During the news conference Friday, Polis called the last 24 hours “devastating” and said President Joe Biden had approved a major disaster declaration for the area.
“That means homeowners won’t have to wait for official damage estimates before receiving assistance,” Polis said.
