Wildfire rages in US state of Colorado

One person has died as a wildfire continues to rage in the US state of Colorado.

The affected area covers 165 square kilometres.

Residents in the town of Fort Collins are divided on how authorities have handled the disaster so far.

Barb Hermsen, who has lived in the area for 32 years, said that officials are “doing the best they can.”

But Deborah Watts, another local woman, said firefighters were too slow to react to the wildfire, which started burning on Saturday night local time.

“I think on Saturday had we gotten some helicopters in there, if they had just gotten that contained immediately, we wouldn’t have 38,000 acres burning at this time.”

Some 600 firefighters are battling the blaze, which has forced hundreds of people to flee their homes.

Colorado’s House of Representatives has called on the US Forest Service to deploy more resources to deal with the crisis.

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