Fires engulfed the Northern areas over Denver, Colorado in Boulder County. More than a thousand homes and businesses burned down. Tens of thousands of citizens were evacuated, and two people are still missing. 

In Boulder County this blaze began on December 30th, it quickly spread across a 10 mile radius. As of right now the cause of the fire is not known, and on December 21st, a foot of snow fell upon the fires. This made the investigation for the origin of the fire harder to resolve.

However, Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle came out on Monday, January 3rd, and said, “I’m not a trained fire investigator. It’s really obvious where that fire started and what direction it went in.”

The Boulder County Police Department followed through with a search warrant of a house after receiving tips that there was video of a fire destroying a shed. As of now though, it is unknown if that was the start of the main fire. The primary cause of the fire is assumed to be downed power lines, however, they have not found any yet.

On Sunday January the 2nd, Colorado Governor Joe Polis spoke at a press conference saying, “If there was any form of deliberate or accidental arson, I fully expect that any of those responsible will be held fully responsible under the law for the utter devastation that was caused.”

According to PBS, “Last week’s Colorado wildfire caused at least $513 million in damage,” making it the deadliest and most destructive fire in Colorado’s history. 

Many experts have come out and publicly declared that events like this will become more and more common with the problem of climate change in dry areas. The quick spread of the fire is believed to be blamed on the drought that came late in the year for the state of Colorado, leaving the flora dry and flammable.