COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (MCT) — Marking the worst fire season in Colorado history, three major blazes are burning uncontrolled throughout the Rocky Mountain state, destroying hundreds of homes, prompting mass evacuations in Colorado Springs and threatening the city of Boulder 100 miles away.

For weeks, Colorado has been in a state of siege as the mammoth High Park Fire raged unhindered in mountain wilderness, destroying 257 rural homesteads and cabins, while residents of cities and suburbs to the east held their collective breaths and prayed that the flames would not reach them.