As many as nine wildfires surrounded the town of Yuma late Wednesday into the early morning hours Thursday as powerful winds whipped across Colorado.
Tim McClung, the mayor of the eastern plains town with a population of just a few thousand, described the threat in an interview with Denver7’s Russell Haythorn live on-air.
“It was pretty scary,” McClung said. “Our concern here in town, primarily because the fires were south and east of us and the wind was out of the north, was what was going on in town … [since firefighters] were busy out fighting the fire.”
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At least one of the fires threatened the town.
“If it got legs and and moved this way, it could, could have been a problem,” McClung said.
Most of the flames were largely contained before daybreak and a network of shelters that had opened for evacuees were closed. There remained a threat of more winds later Thursday morning.
McClung told us in the 6 a.m. hour that about one-quarter of the town was still without power.
The mayor said the fire event was a “wake-up call” for a town with limited resources.
“This is the world we live in now, and it could happen at any time,” he said.
Wildfire