About 1,000 tourists were evacuated from Mesa Verde National Park as a wind-whipped wildfire swiftly burned 400 acres and threatened the park's visitor center, lodge and museum.
The southwest Colorado blaze was just one of dozens being fought by thousands of firefighters in at least five Western states. The fires have burned more than 300,000 acres.The Mesa Verde fire - apparently caused by lightning - was reported at 1:55 p.m. Sunday. By 2:15 p.m. tourists were evacuated from the long, high mesa, which contains ancient Anasazi cliff dwellings dating to the 10th century.
"If it blows to the north, we lose the visitors center, the Far View Lodge, the cafeterias, gift shop. . . . If it blows to the south, then there is the museum, headquarters, all the park offices and most of the park residences," said park dispatcher Brian Barrell.
The initial fire crew of about 50 was drafted from park employees, and reinforcements were ordered from the West's thinly stretched firefighting corps.
Crews in California faced several major fires, including a 70,000-acre blaze near Upper Lake, about 100 miles north of San Francisco, that had forced hundreds of people to evacuate. Smoke from the blaze, which was only 10 percent contained, hung in the air across the state from the San Francisco Bay area to Lake Tahoe.
"The smoke was horrible," said Dee Prior of Upper Lake. "I could hardly breathe."
Prior, her husband and two children were among residents forced to evacuate 450 homes in the Long Valley and Spring Valley areas on Sunday.
The nearby resort towns of Lucerne, Nice and Hogback Ridge were put on alert for possible evacuation. At the area's historic community of Bartlett Springs, fire-fighters were able to save 10 homes from the flames.