The fire and fury caused by the 117 Fire was so destructive Tuesday, incident command directed firefighters not to fight the flames at first.
The lack of initial response, though, was not unwarranted. Rather, the weather produced extreme fire behavior — a massive hazard for firefighters, who instead focused on evacuating families and livestock in harm's way.
"We had 50-foot flames moving at 35 miles an hour," El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder said in a press conference Wednesday. Conditions were just right for the 117 Fire to sprint across the plains last week, burning 35 miles in just two hours and destroying 23 structures. It could have been much worse.