Colorado Governor Jared Polis held a news conference Friday to speak about the state’s response to wildfires. Colorado is currently grappling with one of the worst wildfires in the state’s history.
The East Troublesome Fire burned more than 200 square miles in about 24 hours, and there was concern Friday that the East Troublesome Fire could merge with an even larger fire burning a short distance away.
Officials have struggled to contain both fires and the fear is, if they combine, it will be even harder to tackle.
“We lived in our house for 11 months, it took three years to build, and it’s gone,” Colorado resident Matthew Reed told CBS News. Reed narrowly escaped, but his newly-built home in Grand Lake was destroyed.
Dry conditions and strong winds strengthened the blaze in Grand County, and the firefighter in charge of the battle against it called its rapid spread unheard of in the region.
