Officials confirm 23 homes destroyed in 117 Fire

Firefighters have slowed the spread of the 41,000-acre “MM 117 Fire” between Colorado Springs and Pueblo. The name comes from the mile marker on Interstate 25 near the point of origin.

The early reports indicated that 10 structures had burned, but officials have revised that to 23 residences, with 7 of them being unoccupied.

The state requested the Rocky Mountain Area Type 2 Incident Management Team Black, with Incident Commander Mark Hatcher, to manage the fire. They assumed command at 6 a.m. today (Thursday).

When the fire started Tuesday the wind was far too strong for any aircraft to assist firefighters, but Wednesday brought more favorable conditions allowing several contract air tankers and military helicopters to drop retardant and water.

Map 117 Fire
Map of the 117 Fire, April 19, 2018.

 

Time-lapse of Colorado fires detected by satellite

This is a time-lapse of wildfires in southeast Colorado detected by the fire temperature sensor on the GOES 16 satellite between 1700 UTC April 17 and 0400 UTC April 18. The fire near the arrow is the 117 Fire between Colorado Springs and Pueblo. At the lower right a fire can be seen burning from Colorado into Stanton and Morton counties in Kansas. Several other fires can also be seen. The fires were pushed by very strong winds that stirred up clouds of dust.