Ordway residents return home to ruins

ORDWAY - The Smothermons came home Wednesday morning to a smoking foundation and twisted metal that used to be cars. There was no sign of their nine cats, ducks and chickens.

"I lost all my animals, that's what hurts," said Helen Smothermon, wiping away tears. "I was hoping to find at least one cat."

It was a bitter homecoming for many people in this plains town, a day after a furious, winddriven wildfire scorched 8,900 acres, damaging 24 buildings and forcing the evacuation of Ordway.

The fire was mostly out by Wednesday morning, thanks to a change in wind direction about 2 a.m. that turned it in on itself.

People trickled back to town after a night of uncertainty, spent in shelters or the homes of friends and family.

"We had no idea. We tried to find out and they said, ‘That area is hit-and-miss,'" Robert Smothermon said.

That could describe the entire area. On some streets, houses had been burned to the ground, while homes next door were untouched.

Jennie Montanez's house, on Arkansas Street on Ordway's west side, was in ruins.

She was at work when the fire began west of town, and family members tried to rescue her two dogs, Magic, a border collie mix, and Batman, a Chihuahua. "I tried to get them out of the house, but they were too scared," said her mother, Emma Montanez said. The flames were fastapproaching and the dogs wouldn't come out from under the bed.

"They stayed in there and pretty soon the front door was on fire," Emma Montanez said.

"If anybody has seen my dogs, it would be great to bring them back," said Jennie Montanez, without much hope.

The speed with which the flames poured from the fields into neighborhoods shocked many, and some were nearly trapped.

Staci Buford watched the flames approach her home on County Lane 17.5, just north of Ordway, and gathered birth certificates and documents - just in case. She let the four kids - ages 4, 3, 2 and 1, three of them hers - stay asleep.

And suddenly, it was on them. She and her husband grabbed a child in each arm. The windows were cracking, smoke was pouring from the porch.

They went out the back and got in a minivan, and drove through a tunnel of flames - their driveway - to escape.

There was nothing left Wednesday morning, but still Buford was smiling.

"God saved us, and that's all there was because there was no way we could have gotten out of that house on our own," she said. "The house can be replaced. Our kids can't."

"It was so fast, so powerful, so violent," said Greg Korinek, whose home was destroyed minutes after he fled with his dog, television, guitar and amplifier. "It was the most destructive thing I've ever seen.

"There was nothing we could do - just helpless," Korinek said.

By the middle of the day Wednesday, life was returning to Ordway. The power was back on in most places, a pizza parlor did brisk business, and cars were on the streets.

Just east of Ordway, crews worked feverishly to replace the bridge on Colorado Highway 96 where two firefighters were killed. In this area - where officials say the fire began - dust storms blew off the scorched earth.

Gov. Bill Ritter toured the town Wednesday, and he and local officials promised to provide assistance for struggling residents.

Ordway Mayor Randy Haynes promised help. "We're going to work with all the different agencies to get all our people here back to normal as soon as possible," he said.

Many residents talked about rebuilding, but not the Smothermons.

"Not where all my cats died, no," Helen Smothermon said.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 476-1605 or scott.rappold@gazette.com