Firefighters increase containment on Colorado wildfire

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado wildfire south of Boulder that forced nearly 20,000 people to flee was listed at 35% contained by Sunday afternoon (March 27, 2022) and most evacuation orders had been lifted. Incident Commander Mike Smith says the fire burned to within 1,000 yards of residences, but fire retardant and other prep work helped save the homes. Late Saturday night, the evacuation order was lifted for all but about 1,700 people and 700 homes. The fire is burning near an area where more than 1,000 homes were destroyed by a fire pushed by strong winds in late December. Smith says things were different on Saturday’s fire because they were able to use aircraft to fight the fire.