COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Tens of thousands of Colorado Springs residents forced from their homes by a raging wildfire took refuge with friends or family and crammed into hotels and shelters as Army troops helped firefighters protect the U.S. Air Force Academy from encroaching flames.

 

The blaze was burning out of control early Thursday in the mountains and within Colorado’s second-largest city, after more than 30,000 evacuees frantically packed up belongings and fled.

The wildfire was one of many burning across the parched West, blazes that have destroyed structures and prompted evacuations in Montana and Utah and forced the closure of a portion of Zion National Park.

Shifting winds Wednesday challenged firefighters trying to contain the 29-square-mile Waldo Canyon blaze and extinguish hot spots inside Colorado Spring’s western suburbs. The National Weather Service reported 60 mph winds and lightning above the fire Wednesday afternoon, but winds were calmer by nightfall.

“It won’t stay in the same place,” said incident commander Rich Harvey.

Neighborhoods where explosions of bright orange flame Tuesday signaled yet another house had been claimed were still dangerous, keeping authorities away from being to assess the damage.

But an AP aerial photo taken Wednesday of one neighborhood showed dozens of heavily damaged or destroyed homes.