Governor Jared Polis has declared a state of emergency after a rare wildfire spread through the state of Colorado on Thursday, leading to the evacuation of tens of thousands of people and the destruction of hundreds of homes.
It’s been reported that toppled power lines caused the grass fire around 11am local time south of Boulder, before the wildfires spread quickly through Louisville and Superior.
Around 30,000 people in Louisville and Superior were told to leave their homes on Thursday as winds of up to 105mph carried flames across the region on the back of a historic drought. The blaze expanded to 1,600 acres in a few hours owing to the wind.
According to Boulder County Sheriff, Joe Pelle, some 370 homes went up in flames west of Superior and 210 were destroyed by the fires in the Old Town area of Superior.
In a press conference, Gov. Polis said that “This fire is not so much a question of resources. This fire is a force of nature.”
“We hope that the winds die down, that the weather changes. But for those who are directly affected, know that you don’t stand alone,” he added.
Climate Scientist and extreme weather expert at UCLA, Daniel Swan, has said it was “genuinely hard to believe this is happening in late December in Boulder,” reports NBC news.
Typically, fires in Colorado have been in rural areas, but these latest firs are occurring in more suburban parts of the state, which suggests greater damage to buildings and structures.
While it’s unclear currently, it’s possible that this translates into a higher economic impact and potentially a greater impact for insurers and reinsurers.
