Farther west, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management said two of its firefighters were killed and a third injured on Sunday in a single-vehicle accident outside Winnemucca, Nevada, while they were scouting for possible fires from lightning strikes.
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The fire started at an ad hoc campsite on private property near the Peak-To-Peak highway and Cold Springs Road shortly before 1:30 p.m., according to fire investigators and sheriff’s detectives, CBS News reports.
Two out-of-state campers, Jimmy Andrew Suggs, 28, and Zackary Ryan Kuykendall, 26, of Vinemont, Alabama, have been arrested and booked into Boulder County Jail. Investigators say they voluntarily showed them where they had camped but they weren’t able to go to the site of the campfire that is believed to have flared up because of the wildfire.
Residents returning to their homes in the Magnolia area need to contact their utility provider to restart services if they were turned off, the Boulder County Office of Emergency Management said.
Some residents have lashed out at Suggs on a Facebook page that appears to be his and expressed frustration with people living in campsites in the area. Their female companion, Elizabeth Burdeshaw, 20, also from Vinemont, Alabama, is not facing charges, as she did not have any involvement in creating, maintaining or extinguishing the campfire.
The Hayden Pass Fire more than doubled in size to about 19 square miles on Monday and hasn’t been contained at all.
Fire crews are making more progress in getting the Cold Springs Fire under control.
In northern Colorado, firefighters say a wildfire near the Wyoming border has burned another 1,000 acres, and they are warning that the fire could spread rapidly on Sunday because high winds are forecast. Over 200 firefighters, aided by a dozen aircraft have been battling to establish a perimeter around the blaze.
In this Saturday July 9, 2016 photo, a helicopter prepares for a water drop, fighting a wildfire in Nederland, Colo.
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At least three families have lost their homes to the blaze, and that number is expected to increase.
