Crews box in Colorado wildfire as investigators seek cause

Colorado firefighters have boxed in the big fire that destroyed nearly 1,000 homes in their effort to prevent it from spreading — but officials warned Tuesday that gusty winds expected ahead of a snowstorm could cause flareups in the burn zone between Denver and Boulder. The fire that started last Thursday was finally fully contained on Tuesday by firefighting crews from across Colorado and the blaze burned 9.4 square miles in suburban areas and grassland northwest of Denver, said David Boyd, spokesman for an incident management team in charge of the fire's suppression in Boulder County. Although the blaze died down in recent days and was no longer considered a threat because of a snowstorm last weekend, firefighters were going door to door looking for smoldering that could cause flareups ahead of winds expected to reach 30 mph with gusts up to 60 mph, Boyd said. People going back into their homes need to be aware of that instability.” Whipped by winds reaching 100 mph last week, the inferno destroyed nearly 1,000 homes and other structures and forced tens of thousands of residents to evacuate the rapidly-growing suburban area pockmarked by grasslands.