00:00Also in the United States, a wildfire burning southwest of Denver, Colorado, forced the
00:05evacuation of thousands of residents and destroyed more than 160 structures.
00:11Fire personnel were scooping water from nearby reservoirs to fight the fire, which had expanded
00:18to about 297 square kilometres by Friday afternoon, with zero containment.
00:24According to local authorities, all of Colorado City was ordered evacuated, as well as the
00:29towns of Beula, Bray and San Isabel.
00:33About 50 National Guard soldiers were sent to help with staffing checkpoints on roads in
00:39Cosser and Pueblo counties.
00:41The blaze is one of about 40 uncontained large wildfires burning mostly in the west, fueled
00:47by months of dry weather and a record lack of snow in some places this past winter.
00:57Across a lot of the west, the moisture that forests are accessing during the summer to
01:04grow and to keep a low flammability comes from the prior cool season.
01:14It started off looking OK.
01:16November and December were decent or even a little above average in precipitation totals.
01:22And then the tap just totally turned off around the new year.
01:26January, February and March and April were extraordinarily dry.
01:32January, February and March.
01:33January, February and March.
01:33January, February and March, August 31st.
01:35July-
01:35hearts.
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