The state's governor said flames were consuming football field-lengths of land in seconds as he declared a state of emergency - after months of unusually dry weather in the region.
Aerial pictures show how the fires are jumping to new groundSurrounding them are towns filled with shopping centres, parks and schools.
Cars jammed in queues as they tried to flee the area waited for up to 45 minutes to move about half a mile. Leah Angstman, who was on a bus returning home to Louisville from Denver airport that was forced to stop due to poor visibility, described how it was buffeted by heavy winds."The sky was dark, dark brown, and the dirt was blowing in swirls across the sidewalk like snakes."
Keith Musselman, a snow hydrologist who lives in the region, said:"With any snow on the ground, this absolutely would not have happened in the way that it did."
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