Ordway shrouded in smoke

   ORDWAY - The air was thick with smoke, burning the lungs and the eyes, and the spectacle of devastation filled the horizon. Just to the south, Ordway was shrouded in smoke, and no one knew how much of it was still standing.

    But Cindy DeBerge had only one thought: Where was her daughter?

    "I am out here awaiting word on my daughter. As far as I know, she's OK," De-Berge said, gazing anxiously in the distance.

    Twelve-year-old Katie finally rode up on an old school bus, and the tears DeBerge cried had nothing to do with the smoke stinging the air.

    It was a day of fear and loss in this eastern plains town Tuesday, as a single brush fire, driven by fierce winds and fueled by tinderdry conditions, spread to 6,500 acres and damaged or destroyed at least 20 homes and buildings.

    The cause of the blaze is under investigation. Chris Sorensen, public information officer for the fire, said it began along Colorado Highway 96 west of Ordway on Tuesday afternoon.

    "I saw a little smoke south of Ordway," said A.J. Gruntorad. "Around 30 minutes later, I looked out the window, and I went out there and it was just huge."

    "It's shocking. I've never seen anything like it in my life," he said.

    The speed shocked Rikk Lindt, who saw it in the distance, left his home for a while, and returned to find it half-destroyed.

    "It got part of mine. I lost the back side of my house," said Rikk Lindt, who was driving to check on his sister's home.

    By late afternoon, officials ordered an evacuation of Ordway's 1,200 residents. Shelters were opened in nearby towns, and officials did not know when people would be able to return home. State highways 71 and 96 remained closed because of smoke and collapsed bridges.

    Some who left did so reluctantly.

    Dawn Scheck, who lives north of Ordway, watched as the fire burned the ground all over her property.

    "It burned all around the house, our barn and most of our land," she said.

    The firefighters, she said, "made me leave."

    One woman in Ordway, who gave her name only as Gillian, had to be dragged away from her house by a friend, who told her the smoke was too thick.

    "I've got to save my trees," the woman said. "I've lost 400 of 1,400 I planted."

    He put his arm around her, and walked her away from her home and trees.

    DeBerge's daughter, Katie, was with family friend Eddie Monarchi as they rescued dogs from a nearby home. The fire got too close.

    "The flames were at the back of the house. It was leave now or don't leave," said Monarchi.

    He drove them and the dogs in an old school bus he owns across fields to the safety - they hoped - of Lake Henry.

    "It seemed logical. There's a lot of beach and a lot of water," he said.

    They went into the lake, laid down in the water, and waited for the maelstrom to pass.

    So it went Tuesday as friends and neighbors tried to help one another.

    Said DeBerge: "We all spent a lot of time trying to track down everybody, just to make sure everybody was safe."

    As the sun set, small fires still burned around town, the highways remained closed, and a stream of firefighters and police from across Colorado arrived to help fight the blaze, which, though subdued, was a long way from being beaten.