Crews gained the upper hand on the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history Saturday, containing more than half the blaze that burned down nearly 500 homes and killed two people, AP reported. Officials prepared to lift mandatory evacuation orders for hundreds of residents. Incident commander Rich Harvey said at an evening news conference that containment of the Black Forest Fire was at 55 percent, up from 45 percent earlier Saturday. So far, the fire has cost more than $3.5 million to fight. Most mandatory evacuation orders had been lifted, as the fire zone remained at about 25 square miles (65 square kilometers). But hundreds of people remained displaced. El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa said some residents along the north and west fronts of the initial evacuation zone were being allowed to return to their neighborhoods at 8 p.m. after authorities downgraded evacuation orders from mandatory to pre-evacuation status in specific areas. The announcement that crews had made significant advances on the blaze and taken control of it came the same day authorities were able to gain a clearer picture of the grim landscape it left behind after exploding Tuesday outside Colorado Springs. Maketa cited deputies in saying that some areas in the fire's path had been described as looking "like a nuclear bomb went off," making it difficult to assess the damage before Saturday. It's unclear what caused the fire, which sparked amid record-high temperatures and tinder-dry conditions, but officials believed it was human-caused. The bodies of the two victims were found inside their garage Thursday, their car doors open as though they had been about to flee. No additional homes were destroyed as fire crews expanded containment lines, Maketa said. Also, there were no new reports of injury or death, he said. Some residents had already gotten to see the damage for themselves.
