Eyewitnesses capture Colorado wildfire and escape
**PLEASE NOTE: VIDEO CONTAINS PROFANE LANGUAGE
Robert Gutierrez was shopping at a local Costco in Superior, which lies northwest of Denver, when he was told to evacuate the store due to an approaching wildfire. He hopped into his car, attempting to avoid traffic, but drove down a smoke-engulfed county highway that nearly led to a run-in with the fire.
Gutierrez said that an approaching "good Samaritan" truck driver honked continuously to warn him of the wildfire ahead, convincing him to turn his vehicle around.
"This possibly saved my vehicle and myself from the flames which were already around me," he told Reuters.
At a nearby Chuck E. Cheese restaurant, cellphone video taken by one of the diners showed a line of fire approaching the restaurant, and then parents scrambling to get their children to an exit.
A fierce, wind-driven wildfire has destroyed hundreds of homes and injured at least a half dozen people, prompting the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents in and around two towns east of the Rockies near Denver, authorities said.
The swiftly spreading prairie grass fire was believed to have been ignited by sparks from power lines and transformers toppled by high winds on Colorado's drought-parched Front Range, according to Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle.
Wind-driven wildfires have already destroyed hundreds of homes, injured at least a half dozen people and prompted the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents in and around two towns east of the Rockies near Denver.
