rick salinger of cbs 4 news denver has more. >> reporter: the fires seem to come from nowhere. flames fed by whipping winds of up to 45 miles per hour. people literally had to run for their lives. >> the people, the houses, the pets, the... all the wildlife. it's devastating. >> reporter: as the flames raced through the rugged foothills, about 3,000 people were ordered to evacuate. >> my dog is in that house and i'm not going to let my dog burn. >> reporter: the fire moved so fast dozens of homes in the 11 square mile area were destroyed including houses belonging to nine volunteer firefighters. tom and anna neuer got out just in time. >> came up and over the ridge, took out the house on top of the ridge, took out the little house next to us and ours was third to go. >> so from here to those trees just a wall of fire. it was the most amazing thing i've ever heard. >> reporter: the winds died down overnight, but come morning heavy smoke blanketed the area. by midday, air born tankers were able to resume dropping fire retardant. residents are desperate to return to their homes to

rick salinger of our station is with us there this morning. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, jeff. there's no exact number of the homes destroyed. we do know four of them belonged to firefighters who had been on the lines trying to fight this blaze. right now it's estimated some 3500 acres have burned. the fire roared through the foothills fanned by heavy winds on monday. only later in the day could air takers get into the sky to drop retardant. 3,000 residents are under evacuation orders. shelters have been set up. most people are choosing to stay with family and friends. the winds are expected to diminish somewhat today as the aerial attack on the fire picks up. despite all the property damage, fortunately there have been no deaths or serious injuries. rick salinger for cbs news, boulder, colorado. >> tropical storm hermine is bashing south texas with strong winds and very heavy rain. flooding is a concern in some areas. cbs news correspondent don teague on south padre island with more on that. don, good morning to you. >> good morni

. >>> rick salinger of kcnc is in boulder, colorado, with the latest. good morning to you, rick. >> reporter: good morning, jeff. fire crews have been focusing primarily on trying to protect homes and evacuate residents. the officials say that they have only begun the task of trying to build containment lines around the massive flames. a squadron of six firefighting tankers attacked the massive wildfire from the air tuesday. dropping more than 100,000 gallons of fiery retardant. >> aviation resources were successful in helping firefighters gain ground. >> reporter: colorado governor bill ritder declared a state of emergency. toured the area by car. it was too dangerous to get out. >> more folks brought in, both the federal and state level and all the resources we can. >> reporter: the fire has nearly doubled in size to more than 7100 acres. after a preliminary survey of the burned area, authorities say they counted at least 292 structures that were destroyed. including 53 homes. nine of them belonging to the very people hard at work on the fire lines. >