COLORADO : Forest Fire Burns 5,500 Acres of Pine

A forest fire raged through 5,500 acres of wind-dried ponderosa pine in just hours, forcing hundreds of people out of their homes and campsites in the Pike National Forest. “Everyone is sitting around and praying it won’t get us,” said Mary Green, who operates a grocery store in Buffalo Creek, Colo. High wind gusts of up to 40 mph helped feed the fire, officials said. The cause of the fire wasn’t immediately known. Smoke at the 7,500-foot elevation looked like a huge thunderstorm cloud in Denver, 30 miles away. “It’s burning very intensely,” said Dennis Neill, a Forest Service spokesman.