The news came as an overnight dumping of snow and frigid temperatures Saturday compounded the misery of hundreds of Colorado residents who started off the new year trying to salvage what remains of their homes.
Officials had previously estimated that at least 500 homes — and possibly 1,000 — were destroyed in the fire, which by Friday was no longer a threat. Residents have slowly started returning to see the scale of the devastation.
At least seven people were injured in the wildfire that erupted in and around Louisville and Superior, neighboring towns about 20 miles northwest of Denver with a combined population of 34,000. It burned at least 9.4 square miles . Families filled a long line of cars waiting to pick up space heaters and bottled water at a Salvation Army distribution center at the YMCA in Lafayette, just north of Superior.
Both teared up when a man entered the shop and joked aloud that he'd lost his coffee mugs — and everything else — in the fire. The man was in good spirits, laughing at the irony of the situation.
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