Interstate 25 was closed Wednesday afternoon north of Denver and Thornton police officers were going door-to-door to evacuate residents after a grass fire sparked near the highway, according to law enforcement.
As of 1 p.m., I-25 was closed in both directions between Colorado 224/70th Avenue in Welby and 104th Avenue in Thornton for “safety concerns,” according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. Cameras in the area showed thick, black smoke drifting across the highway.
The on-ramp from eastbound Interstate 76 to northbound I-25 at 70th Avenue and the on-ramp from northbound I-25 to eastbound U.S. 36 were also closed, according to state transportation officials.
Pinnacle Charter High School and nearby businesses were being evacuated at that time and several roads around the fire — which sparked near the high school at West 84th Avenue and Huron Street — were closed, according to the Thornton Police Department.
The exact evacuation area is unknown, but police said it covers neighborhoods northeast of the fire.
“While we do have emergency personnel conducting manual evacuations, anyone who does not feel safe should evacuate,” police said. “Those who do not have anywhere to go can go to Water World as a safe gathering location.”
Thousands of Xcel Energy customers were without power in the area Wednesday afternoon, according to the utility’s outage map.
Outages included more than 2,900 customers in Jefferson County near Arvada and Westminster, 200 customers in Adams County near Sherrelwood and dozens of small outages in between, according to the utility.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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