Boulder Fourmile Canyon fire update: 140 structures burned, red flag warning, new videos

Fourmile canyon fire.

Click for update here: The destructive power of the Fourmile Canyon fire near Boulder was never in doubt -- but the catalog of destruction continues to grow. According to Greg Huele, public-information-officer trainee for the Fairmount Fire Protection District, the estimated number of burned structures has risen to 140 -- and there's no official estimate about containment of the blaze to date. Get more details and see new videos below:

"We aren't issuing a containment percentage at this point," Huele says. "We've got close to twenty miles of fire line around the fire, with about three miles of completed line -- and we built line yesterday and all through the night. But it's not considered containment just because the line is there. We need to secure that, and make sure it stays secure, before we can call sections contained."

The latest map of the Fourmile Canyon fire perimeter.

At this writing, the Boulder Office of Emergency Management web page hasn't posted specific addresses for the 140 structures said to have been destroyed. Indeed, the only addresses listed are for the first 54 structures confirmed burned in recent days -- just over half of the 92 said to have been lost as of yesterday. The last number came as a result of what Boulder County Sheriff's Office spokesman Commander Rick Brough called a "quick count." However, Huele considers the 140-structure figure to be firm.

"I wouldn't call it a quick count," he notes. "They verified that across the board with assessor maps. But we don't have a percentage or a specific number of residences as opposed to other structures, and that number can still change, depending on conditions."

Indeed, the weather doesn't look good for the massive crew now involved in fighting the blaze: 550 firefighters from at least 35 different agencies, with assistance from an air armada consisting of five heavy air tankers, four fixed-wing aircraft and five helicopters.