Tag Archives: Firefighters

California wildfire almost doubles in size as blazes torch U.S. West

Flames from the Detwiler fire burn on a hill near the John C. Fremont Hospital in Mariposa, California, U.S., July 18, 2017. Picture taken July 18, 2017. REUTERS/Stephen Lam

By Stephen Lam

MARIPOSA, Calif. (Reuters) – A fast-growing California wildfire has forced about 5,000 residents from their homes and nearly doubled in size as about four dozen major blazes scorch the U.S. West, authorities said on Wednesday.

More than 2,000 firefighters have contained just 7 percent of the Detwiler fire, which is threatening tiny communities in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, the Cal Fire state agency said on its website.

The blaze has mushroomed to 46,000 acres (18,000 hectares) since Tuesday and is threatening 1,500 structures. Firefighters are facing “extreme and aggressive fire behavior” with solid walls of flame and sparks from the main blaze setting secondary fires, Cal Fire said.

Flames have destroyed eight structures and threaten 1,500 while homes and businesses were ordered evacuated southwest of Yosemite National Park. The fire is threatening power lines to the park, Cal Fire said.

Mariposa’s 2,000 residents were told to leave the town on Tuesday, after its power and water links were damaged, news reports said.

Dan Ostler, a Mariposa business owner, said he was staying behind to offer fire crews bathrooms and water. “It’s something I want to do, I can do. I’ve got my escape route planned,” he told Sacramento’s KOVR television.

Smoke pouring from the Detwiler fire has drifted as far northeast as Idaho, according to satellite photos from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

The California blaze was among 46 active large fires spread across 12 western states as of Tuesday, according to the National Interagency Fire Center’s website.

Around 4.4 million acres (1.8 million hectares) have been burned since the start of 2017, compared to 2.7 million acres (1.1 million hectares) in the same period last year, according to the website.

Dry and windy conditions have intensified the wildfires and thousands of people have been evacuated, including in neighboring Oregon and Nevada.

Cal Fire did not report any injuries from the Detwiler fire as of Wednesday morning.

Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for Mariposa County on Tuesday, dispatching resources to the area, as the fire was approaching.

(Additional reporting by Al Golub in Mariposa, Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee and Ian Simpson in Washington; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Tom Brown)

Windy, dry weather forecast in U.S. West, threatens to stoke wildfires

A USFS bulldozer cuts a line through vegetation to create a safety line below West Camino Cielo while fighting the Whittier Fire near Santa Barbara, California, U.S. July 15, 2017. Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department/Handout via REUTERS

(Reuters) – More than 800,000 residents in the U.S. West were told to be ready to evacuate on Tuesday as windy, dry conditions threatened to stoke wildfires, forecasters said.

A red flag warning was issued for southern Oregon, northern California and northern Nevada as 35 mph (55 kph) wind gusts and humidity hovering around 10 percent were seen, the National Weather Service said in an advisory.

“Strong winds could rapidly push fire into close proximity of local communities Tuesday afternoon and evening. Heed any evacuation orders. React quickly, you may not have much time to leave,” the service said.

More than a half a dozen fires have started up over the last two days in California including the Detwiler Fire, which forced some residents in Mariposa County to evacuate on Monday.

The fire destroyed one structure and threatened 300 more after swelling to 11,200 acres since it began burning brush and tall grass on Sunday afternoon. Five percent of the fire was contained as of Monday night, the Cal Fire website reported.

“I haven’t seen these conditions in a long time, it’s a wind driven, slope driven, fuel-driven fire,” Jerry Fernandez with Cal Fire told an ABC affiliate in Fresno.

Ten new large blazes ignited on Monday as a total of 35 wildfires burned across the U.S. West, the National Interagency Coordination Center said.

Flames have charred more than twice as much land in California so far in 2017 compared with the same time last year, according to Cal Fire.

(This story has been refiled to delete extraneous word in headline.)

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

Hot, dry conditions may stoke wildfires in U.S. West, forecasters warn

A hand drawn sign shows thanks to fire fighters heading out to tackle the Whittier fire near Santa Barbara, California, U.S. July 13, 2017. Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire/Handout via REUTERS

(Reuters) – Crews battling dozens of wildfires across parts of the parched U.S. West will face tinderbox conditions that could stoke more blazes on Friday and through the weekend, forecasters said.

Red flag warnings were issued for northern California, southern Oregon, northeastern Utah and northern Montana. Forecasters expect temperatures to reach above 90 degrees Fahrenheit 32 degrees Celsius) and winds to gust 50 miles (80 km) per hour in parts of the region, the National Weather Service said in advisories.

“Very dry and unstable conditions will support extreme fire behavior and rapid rates of spread,” the service said.

On Thursday evening, crews were battling 43 large fires that were out of control across the U.S. West, according to the National Interagency Coordination Center.

The hot, dry forecast comes after firefighters made gains in California on several blazes, including the so-called Wall Fire, which had damaged or destroyed 44 homes in Butte County and more than 60 other structures.

Evacuation orders have been lifted for about 4,000 people as firefighters have cut containment lines around 85 percent of the blaze, according to the Cal Fire website.

Flames have charred more than twice as much land mass in California so far in 2017 than a year earlier, according to a Forestry and Fire Protection spokeswoman.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

Crews fight dozens of California wildfires amid July heatwave

Los Padres National Forest firefighters watch as helicopters work on the northeast flank of the Whittier fire near Hot Spring Canyon outside Cachuma Lake, California, U.S. July 11, 2017. Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire/Handout via REUTERS

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Crews battled dozens of wildfires raging across California on Wednesday, gaining ground on several of the more destructive blazes as forecasters warned that hot, dry, tinderbox conditions would persist across the U.S. West.

In Northern California, by late Wednesday afternoon firefighters had cut containment lines around more than half of the so-called Wall Fire, which has damaged or destroyed more than 100 structures, 44 of them homes, since it broke out last week.

Evacuation orders in the path of the Wall fire were reduced to warnings on Wednesday but according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection more than 600 homes remained threatened.

The blaze has displaced 4,000 people and charred some 5,800 acres of tall grass and chaparral in Butte County, north of Sacramento.

In Southern California, meanwhile crews had managed to contain 65 percent of the Alamo Fire, which has blackened nearly 29,000 acres northeast of Santa Maria in San Luis Obispo County.

Some 200 people remained under evacuation orders because of the blaze, which has destroyed two structures

The Whittier Fire in Santa Barbara County forced the evacuation of thousands of campers near Lake Cachuma, including some who left behind their trailers in the rush.

Dozens of residents were also evacuated when the fire broke out on Saturday, officials said.

By Wednesday, firefighters had contained 48 percent of the blaze, up from 25 percent a day earlier. The fire has burned nearly 12,000 acres.

As of Wednesday evening 47 large fires were burning out of control across the U.S. West, according to the National Interagency Coordination Center.

So far this year, more than twice as much land mass in California has been charred by flames compared to the same time last year, said Heather Williams, a Forestry and Fire Protection spokeswoman.

Temperatures in the region will top 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) this week, with only scattered showers to possibly quell some flames, said meteorologist Brian Hurley of the National Weather Service.

At a local assistance center, resident Carolyn Opalenik said her house had been destroyed.

“It’s all gone. We have pictures, and it’s all gone,” she told the Chico Enterprise-Record newspaper.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Tom Brown)

Firefighters slow Arizona wildfire, allowing some residents to return

Smoke rises from the Goodwin Fire which had prompted the evacuation of the town of Mayer, Arizona, U.S. June 27, 2017. Picture taken June 27, 2017. Arizona Department of Transportation/Handout via REUTERS

By David Schwartz

PHOENIX (Reuters) – Firefighters gained ground against a fierce, five-day-old wildfire in central Arizona on Thursday, enabling authorities to lift evacuation orders for the largest town that had been threatened, but 2,000 people remain displaced in neighboring communities.

The blaze, dubbed the Goodwin Fire, has charred nearly 25,000 acres (10,120 hectares) and destroyed an unknown number of homes since erupting on Saturday in the Prescott National Forest, 70 miles (113 km) north of Phoenix.

Stoked by high winds as it roared through dense, sun-baked chaparral, the blaze raged largely unchecked for the first few days, but by Thursday firefighting teams had managed to carve containment lines around 25 percent of the perimeter.

“This means that we are really making progress on the fire,” said Tiffany Davila, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Forestry and Fire. “Crews are really getting a handle on the fire and all their efforts … seem to be coming into play.”

Residents of Mayer, a town of 1,400 people evacuated on Tuesday, were allowed to return home on Thursday morning, said Dwight Develyn, a spokesman for the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office.

But Develyn said about 2,000 residents forced to flee from 10 other communities during the week remained under evacuation orders. About 1,400 children at summer camps in the area were also sent home, according to Sheriff Scott Mascher.

A force of about 800 firefighters, backed by airplane tankers dumping payloads of flame-retardant chemicals, benefited from diminished winds and increased humidity in the region that helped slow the fire’s growth and intensity, officials said.

“We’re having better conditions than we’ve had for a while, so I think we’re in decent shape,” fire command spokesman Gerry Perry said.

No serious injuries have been reported.

The Goodwin blaze was one of more than two dozen large, active wildfires reported burning on Thursday across Arizona and eight other U.S. states.

Heavy rainfall in parts of the West over the winter and spring helped delay the onset of fire season, but also spurred the growth of dense vegetation that has now dried out and become highly combustible as summertime heat sets in.

Wildfires have scorched nearly 2.8 million acres so far this year, compared with 2.1 million acres at this point in 2016, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

Forecasts called for hot, dry weather and gusty winds across much of the Southwest this coming holiday weekend, posing a lingering fire threat for the region.

(Additional reporting by Brendan O’Brien; editing by Jonathan Oatis and G Crosse)

London apartment block fire rises to 17, more feared dead

Damage is seen to a tower block which was destroyed in a fire disaster, in north Kensington, West London, Britain June 15, 2017. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

By Alistair Smout and Estelle Shirbon

LONDON (Reuters) – The death toll in a fire that ripped through a 24-floor block of flats in London rose to 17 on Thursday, with many people still missing and firefighters facing hazardous conditions as they searched the charred wreck.

Smoke was still wafting out of the shell of the Grenfell Tower on Thursday, and a Reuters cameraman saw a big piece of building cladding fall from the building.

Fire engulfed the social housing block in the early hours of Wednesday, turning it into a flaming torch in minutes.

“Sadly I can confirm that the number of people that have died is now 17,” London police commander Stuart Cundy told reporters.

He said that number was expected to rise and firefighters have said they did not expect to find any more survivors after rescuing 65 from the inferno. Thirty-seven people remained in hospital, with 17 of them in critical care.

“Our absolute priority for all of us is identifying and locating those people who are still missing,” Cundy said before declining to comment on speculation about the likely final death toll: “It would be wrong for me to get into numbers that I do not believe are accurate.”

London Fire Brigade chief Dany Cotton said urban search units backed by specialist dog teams would scour the building as structural surveyors helped make the tower safe.

The cause of the blaze, the worst in the British capital in a generation, was being investigated. Speaking within weeks of London’s deadliest attack by militants in more than a decade, Cundy said nothing suggested the fire was linked to terrorism.

Prime Minister Theresa May, who has promised an investigation into the disaster, visited the scene on Thursday to meet members of the emergency services, but left without making any public comment.

Local residents say there had been repeated warnings about the safety of the building, which recently underwent an 8.7 million pound ($11.1 million) exterior refurbishment, which included new external cladding and windows.

Planning documents detailing the refurbishment did not refer to a type of fire barrier that building safety experts said should be used when high-rise blocks are being re-clad, according to Reuters research.

Queen Elizabeth said her thoughts and prayers were with those families who had lost loved ones and with the many people still critically ill in hospital. She also paid tribute to the bravery of firefighters who risked their lives to save others.

“It is also heartening to see the incredible generosity of community volunteers rallying to help those affected by this terrible event,” the queen said.

Messages are attached to a wall near a tower block which was destroyed in a fire disaster, in north Kensington, West London, Britain June 15, 2017. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

Messages are attached to a wall near a tower block which was destroyed in a fire disaster, in north Kensington, West London, Britain June 15, 2017. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

OUTPOURING OF SUPPORT

Survivors, many of whom lost all their belongings in the blaze, spent the night at emergency shelters, as charities and local support groups were flooded with donations of clothes and bedding from shocked Londoners.

Piles of shoes, clothes, duvets and other items accumulated in several spots where volunteers were sorting them. The local authority, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, thanked donors but said it could not take any further donations.

The singer Adele was among many Londoners who gathered close to the burnt tower late on Wednesday to show sympathy for the victims and survivors.

The queen’s grandsons, Prince William and Prince Harry, along with William’s wife Kate, donated to a relief fund organized by London’s local Evening Standard newspaper.

The fire brigade said the fire was unprecedented in its scale and the speed of its spread.

The tower, built in 1974 in North Kensington, an area of west London, contained 120 flats and was thought to have been home to about 600 people.

Accounts emerged of people trapped inside as the blaze destroyed everything around them, shouting for help and trying to escape through windows using makeshift ropes from bed sheets tied together.

By Thursday morning, there was no sign of life in or around the blackened hulk. Security cordons were in place around the base of the tower and the ground was littered with charred debris.

Outside the cordons, impromptu tributes appeared with photos of missing people, messages of condolences, flowers and candles.

Emergency services said it was too early to say what had caused the disaster. Some residents said no alarm had sounded. Others said they had warned repeatedly about fire safety in the block.

(Additional reporting by Kate Holton, Michael Holden and Costas Pitas; Writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Fire engulfs London tower block, at least 12 dead, dozens injured

Flames and smoke billow as firefighters deal with a serious fire in a tower block at Latimer Road in West London, Britain June 14, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville

By Kylie MacLellan and Toby Melville

LONDON (Reuters) – A blaze engulfed a 24-story housing block in central London on Wednesday, trapping residents as they slept and killing at least 12 people in an inferno that the fire brigade said was unprecedented in its scale and speed.

More than 200 firefighters, backed up by 40 fire engines, fought for hours to try to control the blaze, London’s deadliest for a generation. The Grenfell Tower apartment block was home to about 600 people.

A local residents’ group said it had predicted such a catastrophe on their low-rent housing estate that overlooks affluent parts of the Kensington area of the capital, and London Mayor Sadiq Khan said there were questions to answer.

Prime Minister Theresa May promised there would be a proper investigation into the disaster, which delayed her talks on trying to secure a parliamentary deal to stay in power and launch talks on Britain’s exit from the European Union.

Some residents screamed for help from behind upper-floor windows and others tried to throw children to safety as flames raced through the Grenfell block of about 120 apartments just before 1 a.m.

Firefighters said they had rescued 65 people – some in pyjamas – from the 43-year-old block.

“We could see a lot of children and parents screaming for ‘Help! Help! Help!’ and putting their hands on the window and asking to help them,” Amina Sharif told Reuters.

“We could do nothing and we could see the stuff on the side was falling off, collapsing. We were just standing screaming and they were screaming.”

TYING SHEETS TOGETHER

Another witness, Saimar Lleshi, saw people tying together sheets to try to escape.

“I saw three people putting sheets together to climb down, but no one climbed down. I don’t know what happened to them. Even when the lights went off, people were waving with white shirts to be seen,” Lleshi said.

The fire sent up plumes of smoke that could be seen from miles away. The ambulance service said 68 people were being treated in hospital, with 18 in critical condition.

More than 16 hours after the fire started, crews were still trying to douse flames as they sought to reach the top floors.

But London police commander Stuart Cundy told reporters he did not believe further survivors would be found in the building.

At a nearby community center used to house some of those rescued, tensions were rising as occupants waited for news.

“The fire, which was unprecedented in its scale and speed, will be subject to a full fire investigation,” said Steve Apter from the London Fire Brigade. “Any lessons learnt from this will be borne out not just across London, across the UK – and lessons learnt globally.”

The emergency services said it was too early to say what had caused the inferno, which left the block a charred, smoking shell. Some residents said no alarm had sounded. Others said they had warned repeatedly about fire safety in the block.

The building had recently undergone an 8.7 million pound ($11.08 million) exterior refurbishment, which included new external cladding and windows.

“We will cooperate with the relevant authorities and emergency services and fully support their enquiries into the causes of this fire at the appropriate time,” Rydon, the firm behind the refurbishment work, said in a statement.

CHILDREN THROWN TO SAFETY

Residents who escaped told how they woke up to the smell of burning and rushed to leave through smoke-filled corridors and stairwells.

There were reports that some leapt out of windows. Other witnesses spoke of children including a baby being thrown to safety from high windows.

Tamara, one witness, told the BBC: “There’s people, like, throwing their kids out, ‘Just save my children, just save my children!'”.

Opposition Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn said sprinkler systems should be installed in such blocks and he called on the government to make a statement in parliament.

Fire Minister Nick Hurd said local authorities and fire services across the country would assess tower blocks undergoing similar renovation work to provide reassurance.

“In due course when the scene is secure, when it is possible to identify the cause of this fire, there will be proper investigation and if there are any lessons to be learned, they will be and action will be taken,” May said.

Khan, the London mayor, said there needed to be answers after some residents said they had been advised they should stay in their flats in the event of a fire.

“What we can’t have is a situation where people’s safety is put at risk because of bad advice being given or, if it is the case, as has been alleged, of tower blocks not being properly serviced or maintained,” Khan said.

Resident Michael Paramasivan told BBC radio he had spoken to a woman who lived on the 21st floor: “She has got six kids. She left with all six of them. When she got downstairs, there was only four of them with her. She is now breaking her heart.”

(Additional reporting by Lina Saigol, David Milliken, Costas Pitas, Kate Holton, Neil Hall, Elisabeth O’Leary, Alistair Smout, Megan Revell and Oli Rahman; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge and Michael Holden; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Fire engulfs London apartment block, at least six dead, more than 50 injured

Flames and smoke engulf a tower block, in north Kensington, West London, Britain June 14, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville

By Kylie MacLellan and Lina Saigol

LONDON (Reuters) – Fire engulfed a 24-floor housing block in central London in the early hours on Wednesday, killing at least six people and injuring at least 50 others in an inferno that trapped residents as they slept.

Flames raced through the high-rise Grenfell Tower block of apartments in the north Kensington area after taking hold around 1 a.m. and witnesses reported many residents desperately calling for help from windows of upper floors.

More than 200 firefighters, backed up by 40 fire engines, fought for hours to try to bring the blaze, one of the biggest seen in central London in recent years, under control.

In late morning, London police said six people had been killed and the death toll was likely to rise.

Fire-fighting crews still had to reach the top four floors of the building where several hundred people live in 130 apartments.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

The block had recently undergone an 8.7 million pound ($11.08 million) refurbishment of the exterior, which included new external cladding, replacement windows and curtain wall facades.

Plumes of black smoke billowed high into the air over the British capital for hours after the blaze broke out. Residents rushed to escape through smoke-filled corridors after being woken up by the smell of burning.

London Fire Brigade said the fire engulfed all floors from the second to the top of the 24-storey block. There were reports that some residents threw themselves out of windows to escape the flames.

“In my 29 years of being a fire fighter, I have never ever seen anything of this scale,” London Fire Brigade Commissioner Dany Cotton told reporters.

Firefighters carry gas cylinders near a tower block severly damaged by a serious fire, in north Kensington, West London, Britain June 14, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville

Firefighters carry gas cylinders near a tower block severly damaged by a serious fire, in north Kensington, West London, Britain June 14, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville

SAFETY QUESTIONS

London mayor Sadiq Khan said the fire raised questions over safety of high-rise blocks like Grenfell Tower. The BBC reported that a political deal between the government of Prime Minister Theresa May and a small Northern Irish party could be delayed because of the aftermath of the fire.

More than 10 hours after the fire broke out London fire brigade said it was still working to bring the fire under control, though the building was not in danger of collapse.

Firefighters rescued large numbers of people from the 43-year-old block, a low rent housing estate which rubs alongside up-scale parts of the Kensington area and highlights the disparities of wealth in the British capital.

London Ambulance Service said more than 50 people had been taken to hospital. A witness told Reuters she feared not all the residents had escaped the fire. Some were evacuated in their pyjamas.

“I looked through the spy hole and I could see smoke everywhere and the neighbors are all there. There’s a fireman shouting ‘get down the stairs’,” one of the block’s residents, Michael Paramasivan, told BBC radio. “It was an inferno.”

“As we went past the fourth floor it was completely thick black smoke. As we’ve gone outside I’m looking up at the block and it was just going up. It was like pyrotechnics. It was just unbelievable how quick it was burning.”

“There was bits of building falling off all around me, I scalded my shin on a hot piece of metal that had fallen off the building,” said Jodie Martin, who lives close to the building and sought to save people from the fire.

“I was just screaming at people: ‘Get out, get out’ and they were screaming back at me: ‘We can’t, the corridors are full of smoke’,” he told BBC Radio.

Smoke billows as firefighters deal with a serious fire in a tower block at Latimer Road in West London, Britain June 14, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville

Smoke billows as firefighters deal with a serious fire in a tower block at Latimer Road in West London, Britain June 14, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville

RESIDENTS’ CONCERN

Local residents said they had warned repeatedly over fire safety in the block.

London’s mayor Khan said questions needed to be answered over the safety of tower blocks after some residents said they had been advised they should stay in their flats in the event of a fire.

A local residents association had previously warned it was worried about the risk of a serious fire in the block.

“These questions are really important questions that need to be answered,” Khan said.

“What we can’t have is a situation where people’s safety is put at risk because of bad advice being given or if it is the case, as has been alleged, of tower blocks not being properly serviced or maintained.”

Ash Sha, 30, who witnessed the fire and has an aunt in the building who managed to escape from the second floor, said the local council had recently renovated the tower.

“They cladded the outside and insulated the inside,” Sha said. “The insulated material is very similar to sponge so it crumbles in your hand. This was just done to tart it up and match the nearby building.”

The local council of Kensington and Chelsea, which owns the block, said it was focusing on supporting the rescue and relief operation. It said the causes of the fire would be fully investigated.

Police closed the A40, a major road leading out of west London, while some parts of London’s underground train network were closed as a precaution.

(Additional reporting by Toby Melville, Neil Hall, Subrat Patnaik, Alistair Smout and Costas Pitas; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

Colorado wildfire burns 30,000 acres, destroys homes

Fires in Colorado and Texas.

By Keith Coffman

DENVER (Reuters) – A wind-driven wildfire erupted on the eastern plains of Colorado on Monday, scorching 30,000 acres of grassland, prompting the temporary evacuation of a small farming town and destroying at least three homes, emergency officials said.

The fire erupted around midday east of the town of Sterling and quickly grew out of control as gale-force winds fanned the flames, said Marilee Johnson, spokeswoman for the Logan County Office of Emergency Management.

Mandatory evacuations were lifted for the town of Haxtun late in the afternoon but some 900 homes remain threatened and those residents have been warned to prepare to flee should shifting winds drive flames their way, she said.

The 30,000-acre fire was 50 percent contained, the Logan County Office of Emergency Management said in a statement.

No injuries have been reported but three homes and a fourth structure were burned to the ground. The cause of the fire was unknown.

Footage from a Denver television station showed rows of hay bales in the agricultural area consumed by flames. More than 70 firefighters from 13 agencies were battling the blaze, emergency managers said.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued an air quality alert due to smoke and dust kicked up by the winds, warning residents to stay indoors.

“This is especially true for those with heart disease, respiratory illnesses, the very young and the elderly,” the health department said in a statement.

Interstate 76 was temporarily closed due to smoke and blowing dust but some county roads remained closed by nightfall, the state emergency operations center said.

Schools in the towns of Caliche, Haxtun and Fleming were evacuated as winds whipped up the grass fire in the afternoon, the state office of emergency management said in a statement posted on its website.

The National Weather Service issued high wind warnings or advisories for much of Colorado as a cold front blew across the state on Monday, with blowing snow making for hazardous driving conditions in the Colorado mountains.

“Expect an additional 3 to 5 inches of snow combined with west winds of 35 to 50 mph and gusts to 70 mph,” the weather service said in a statement.

High winds also buffeted the Denver metropolitan area, causing power outages to nearly 600 businesses and residences for a time on Monday, the utility company said on its online outage report.

(Editing by Nick Macfie)

Soldiers, rescue dogs seek trapped firefighters in Tehran building collapse

By Parisa Hafezi

ANKARA (Reuters) – Soldiers, sniffer dogs and rescue workers were searching for an estimated 25 trapped firefighters on Thursday in the ruins of a 17-storey commercial building that collapsed while they were trying to put out a blaze, the mayor of Tehran said.

Iranian state TV said at least 78 people, including 45 firefighters, had been hurt when the Plasco building in the south of the capital came crashing down in a giant cloud of dust. One witness described it as “like a horror movie”.

Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf denied speculation on social media that dozens of people had been killed. “The reports on 30, 50 fatalities are incorrect. Around 25 firefighters are trapped inside and rescue teams are trying to take them out,” he told state television.

The broadcaster reported: “Still some parts of the collapsed building are on fire. Firefighters are trying to control the fire.” Most of those hurt had been taken to hospital and many were quickly discharged, it said.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency said troops had been sent to help dig through the ruins. It said one of the first firefighters to be reached had demanded to be let back inside to save his colleagues.

The agency quoted an official in the Tehran governor’s office as saying an electrical short-circuit had caused the fire, but there was no immediate confirmation of this.

President Hassan Rouhani ordered an immediate investigation and compensation for those affected.

RESCUE COULD TAKE DAYS

Tehran Fire Department spokesman Jalal Maleki said the building had collapsed vertically. “That is why adjacent buildings were not damaged,” he said.

Occupants of the building had been evacuated as the firefighters tackled the blaze. State TV said the tenants included garment manufacturers, and broadcast footage of business owners trying to re-enter the wreckage.

Sniffer dogs searched for signs of survivors buried under giant slabs of concrete and heaps of twisted metal. The rescue operation could last more than two days, state TV said.

The Plasco building, Iran’s first private high-rise, was built more than 50 years ago by a prominent Iranian-Jewish businessman who was arrested and sentenced to death for ties to Israel after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Tasnim said it “had caught fire in the past”. A fire department spokesman told state TV that tenants “had been warned repeatedly in the past months by the municipality to evacuate the building because of safety concerns.”

“We had repeatedly warned the building managers about the lack of safety,” Maleki told state TV. “The building lacked fire extinguishers… But the building managers ignored the warnings.”

The owner of a nearby grocery store, forced by police to leave the area, told Reuters by telephone: “It was like a horror movie. The building collapsed in front of me.”

The semi-official Fars news agency said police had cordoned off the nearby British, German and Turkish embassies. “The flames could be seen kilometers away from the old building,” it said.

(Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)