UPDATE @ 2:06pm Mountain:

From press conference with Colorado Governor Bill Ritter and Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle

- 7,120 acres burned

- “Dozens of homes” destroyed. Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle says that is the most specific he can get until they get a better handle on the situation.

- Could be “days” before fire investigators have an accurate count of structures destroyed or damaged.

- Governor Ritter declared State of Emergency this morning

- Evacuees angry over lack of information and want to know when they will be allowed back into their neighborhoods

- Governor Ritter addressed their concerns saying the main message is that the number one priority is public safety, followed by firefighter safety, then saving structures.

- 9 volunteer firefighters have lost their homes

- no injuries or deaths reported from the blaze.

- When Sheriff Pelle was asked what it would take to put out the fire, his first response was, “Pray for rain”

Approximately 3,500 residents on Boulder County, Colorado are not in their homes right now, having been chased away by a wind-whipped wildfire.  Hundreds sought shelter in facilities opened up by the local municipalities, some went to hotels, and others to nearby friends and relatives.  At this point, many still do not know if they will have a home in which to return.

Rick Brough, Commander with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office said in a news briefing this morning that, “Today’s objectives are…providing for firefighting and public safety.”  Firefighting personnel will also work on implementing structure and what’s known as point protection.  That means they will try to protect what residences are still standing.  This, in addition to attempting to contain the fire.  In addition to the wind, part of the slow down has been the rugged and steep canyons where the fires are burning.

“Currently, we’re still estimating about 3500 acres have burned or are involved.  That hasn’t changed much from yesterday, the reason being, we had minimal growth of the fire around the perimeter,” Brough said.  However, the blaze continues to burn without any containment or control.  With the calming winds, the flames are, right now, burning inside the perimeter of the fire.  This wildfire started Monday morning in what witnesses say was a tree in a highly populated area.  The winds pushed it to a threatening blaze quickly, with 45 mph gusts so erratic the fire line was being pushed in multiple directions at once.

This morning, the conditions are more favorable with a prediction of three to six mile-per-hour winds.  Brough says, this is, “Going to allow us to get air tankers up into the air.”  And more air support is on the way.  Three helicopters will be used later today, in addition to the 7 tankers and two spotter planes already working the blaze.

“We are not allowing people, media, anybody into the closed area.  We still have safety concerns at this point, it’s a very active fire.”

An investigative team is set to begin looking into the cause of the fire and will count the impacted structures.  Right now, it is too early to determine what started this fire.

So far, there have been no reports of anyone being injured in this blaze, but four firefighters lost their homes and have been relieved of their duty.

At noon Mountain time today, local weather casters have issued a Red Flag Warning, which means winds could pick up again, and in turn make the dry, hot conditions even worse.