Colorado Fire May Wipe Out Tourist Town

South Fork evacuated, was used in 'Vacation' movie
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 21, 2013 2:35 PM CDT
Colorado Fire May Wipe Out Tourist Town
People attend a town meeting in South Fork, Colo., on Thursday. The town is now evacuated.   (AP Photo/U.S. Forest Service, Penny Bertram)

The mountain resort of South Fork, Colorado, is a ghost town today as a massive wildfire approaches. (If you've seen the Chevy Chase movie Vacation, you've seen the place: The Griswolds picnicked there, notes AP.) The town has 400 full-time residents, all of whom had evacuated by this morning, reports the Denver Post. At the peak of summer, the population swells to 10 times its normal size. The wildfire is the result of two separate fires, both started by lightning, that combined last weekend. The resulting blaze had been relatively modest until yesterday, when it more than doubled in size to 30,000 acres. (More Colorado stories.)

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