SACRAMENTO, United States, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Three wildland firefighters were killed and two others suffered burn injuries on Saturday while battling a fast-growing fire on the Colorado-Utah border, the U.S. Wildland Fire Service said Sunday, as hot, dry and windy conditions drove the total number of uncontained large fires nationwide to 45.
The firefighters were overrun by advancing flames while responding to the Knowles and Gore fires in Mesa County, Colorado, in what the U.S. Department of the Interior described as a burnover incident in which crews deployed emergency fire shelters, the department said in a statement. The two surviving firefighters were hospitalized with burn injuries.
The Knowles and Gore fires subsequently merged with other blazes to form the Snyder Fire, the Department of the Interior said.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis verbally declared a disaster emergency Saturday and authorized the deployment of the National Guard to assist in firefighting efforts, Colorado Public Radio reported.
