ELLICOTT, COLO. -- Update:
A fire tore through a mobile home storage lot near Ellicott right along Highway 94 just on Log Road Wednesday.
Fire crews said dozens of vacant mobile homes were destroyed, and smoke could be seen from all over Colorado Springs.
"There are hundreds of mobile homes in this lot," fire information officer Kathy Russell said. "Currently about 40-50 of them have been damaged or destroyed."
Fire crews from all over the city and county raced to help put out the fire.
Officials said there are 700-800 vacant mobile homes in the lot, and they are so densely compacted that once the fire started, it torched multiple trailers quickly.
As the plastics and other toxic materials inside the mobile homes burned, they belched a dark smoke well into the night.
"At this moment about 20 of them are still on fire in some way or another," Russell said.
Fire officials said they don't yet know what caused this complex fire, and they said it could be a while before they figure it out.
Highway 94 was closed all evening so water tankers could haul water to the scene.
One man watched as the fire burned near his mobile home park, and all he could do was hope the wind wouldn't change direction.
"With the grass being as dry as it was and those flames being pretty huge I was pretty concerned. If they had enough fire department out here because those flames were going pretty high and there was a great deal of smoke," neighbor Howard Stearns said.
No one was injured in the fire.
Fire crews expect to be on scene all Wednesday night.
They said this will be be a slow and difficult mop-up operation, and they do not know when that stretch of Highway 94 is expected to be reopened.
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Original story:
A fire at a mobile home storage facility in Ellicott is burning several mobile homes and is spreading due to strong winds.
The facility is located at Highway 94 and Log Road just east of Schriever Air Force Base. Several explosions, possibly from propane tanks in the burning homes, have been heard.
Fire officials said there is also a grass fire south of Highway 94. The Highway is closed while crews work to combat the fire.
Multiple agencies from around El Paso County have responded and are on scene.
No other information is available at this time.
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