WASHINGTON: On Thursday, wind-driven fires in Colorado Springs damaged eight mobile homes, forced 1,000 residents to flee their homes, and forced officials to evacuate the airport before resuming inbound flights. According to airport officials, all outward flights from the Colorado Springs airport were cancelled at 7 p.m. Inbound flights were cancelled at 5:30 p.m., and everyone at the airport were forced to depart around 6:40 p.m. According to airport officials, the inbound flight restarted about 7:55 p.m.
As per reports, the Alturas fire was started by a catalytic converter on an El Paso County Sheriff's Office vehicle. Strong winds pushed and fueled the fire, which shut down both directions of Powers Boulevard on Thursday afternoon at South Powers Boulevard and Milton E. Proby Parkway. Residents were told to leave right away. Around 7:30 p.m., the evacuations were lifted.'
The nearby airport tweeted shortly after 5 p.m. that it had issued a "shelter in place" order for everyone inside the facility. The sheriff's office said the airport was being evacuated 20 minutes later, but airport officials disputed it.
According to Lt. Pam Castro, a police spokesperson, the afternoon fire forced the evacuation of the large Amazon Fulfillment Center Warehouse on the city's southeast side. As a precaution, the centre was evacuated around 4:15 p.m. Firefighters were deployed to the Skylark Mobile Home Park in Colorado Springs soon before noon on Thursday, when they found heavy smoke and flames reaching over 50 feet. The fire was soon put out by firefighters, and it did not spread beyond the homes. There were no injuries, and investigators are still trying to figure out what started the fire, which was spread by venting propane tanks and strong winds, according to authorities.
Because of a different blaze that was threatening homes across town, firefighters took about 12 minutes to arrive at the mobile home park. According to Colorado Springs fire marshal Brett Lacey, the Ackerman fire started around 11:20 a.m. in the 6700 block of Ackerman Drive and has burnt about 25 acres. Approximately 1,000 people were evacuated by fire officials, according to Lacey. Several fences were reportedly burned but no residences were destroyed. Around 3:45 p.m., the evacuation order was rescinded.
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