2nd person found dead in Colo. wildfire area
Thick smoke covers the sky as it billows up from wildfire near Roxborough State Park in Colorado. (March 26, 2012) Credit: AP
A second person was found dead in the area burned by a wildfire that has destroyed at least 16 homes and forced hundreds to flee the mountainous area southwest of Denver, authorities said Tuesday.
The second body was discovered near a person found dead Monday, Jefferson County sheriff's officials said. Authorities do not yet know if the deaths were caused by the fire, which has grown to about 7 square miles.
The first victim wasn't a firefighter or an emergency responder, sheriff's spokeswoman Jacki Kelley said.
The fire is burning several miles and mountain ridges west of Denver's tightly populated southwestern suburbs, which are not under threat. The area of pines and grassland is mountainous and sparsely populated, dotted with hamlets and the occasional expensive home. It is about 25 miles southwest of Denver at an altitude that ranges from 7,000 to 8,200 feet.
Kelley had said earlier that the wildfire may have been a controlled burn from last week that sprang back to life because of strong wind gusts.
Updated now Newsday travel writer Scott Vogel took the ferry over to Block Island for a weekend of fun.
Updated now Newsday travel writer Scott Vogel took the ferry over to Block Island for a weekend of fun.
