Boulder County officials say the Fourmile Canyon Fire currently sits at 6,365 acres and is now 30 percent contained. On Thursday afternoon the city of Boulder announced they want residents to take precautions and prepare for possible evacuations in advance of high winds.

The number of destroyed homes has now risen to 169 homes, which surpasses that of the 2002 Hayman Fire. Some good news was reported at the news conference Thursday morning- fire officials say they've made contact with the last four missing people so currently there are no missing persons reported.

Some evacuees will be allowed back home Thursday morning. On Thursday at 10 a.m., residents of the Boulder Hills, Pine Brook Hills and Carriage Hills subdivisions were allowed to return to their homes. Still, many are displaced.

An updated list released Wednesday night shows 169 homes were destroyed. At least 12 homes have been damaged by the fire. There is a link to Boulder Emergency Management's site, which lists the addresses destroyed, below this story. The reported losses surpass those of the 2002 Hayman fire in southern Colorado that was the most destructive in the state's history. It destroyed 133 homes and 466 outbuildings over 138,000 acres.

Incident Commanders with Boulder County Fire say they are in "structure protection mode" at this point. The firefight on Thursday include 710 firefighters and fire management personnel fighting the flames.

Five heavy air tankers were being used as well as a single engine air tanker out of Fort Collins. Three helicopters were dropping water on the hottest points of the fire. As of Wednesday afternoon, air tankers had dropped 16 loads or 35,000 gallons of retardant on the flames.

Tom and Anna Neuer, who live near where the fire originated, said their home was destroyed. "We stayed as long as we could, but this firestorm hit and we just took off," Tom said.

Whittemore says nine firefighters have lost their own homes to the fire and it's a testament to the commitment and bravery, "While they're out saving someone else's home, their home is burning down."

So far, no one has been hurt. Twenty people were originally reported missing by family members but Boulder County officials say they've located all of those missing persons.

Gov. Bill Ritter and Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle toured the site of the fire at noon on Tuesday. Ritter has declared a state of emergency and has dedicated $5 million to the effort, the most since he's been in office and the most since the Hayman Fire.

This is the most comprehensive list available of residential areas that have been ordered to evacuate as a result of the wildfire:

-- all homes within a 3-mile radius of Gold Hill
-- the Mountain Meadows subdivision
-- the Sierra Antigua subdivision
-- Mountain Meadows and Mountain Pines
-- Pine Brook
-- Boulder Heights
-- Whispering Pines
-- Mile marker 3 Sugarloaf to Boulder Canyon
-- Lickskillet west to Sawmill

When a CBS4 (KKTV's sister station) crew was at the roadblock at Sunshine Canyon Drive in Boulder early Monday afternoon a long line of people were leaving and there were also many drivers who were in line trying to go back up into the canyon. Some people were arguing with deputies, saying they were concerned about their pets. Other people tried to sneak around the roadblocks but were unsuccessful. No one has been arrested at those roadblocks. As of Thursday, at least one person has been ticketed and another person has been taken away in handcuffs.

"The roads are very narrow up there and the last thing we need is people coming down when we're trying to get firefighting equipment up there. We just need people to stay out of the area," said Rick Brough, Boulder County sheriff's spokesman.

Boulder County's Office of Emergency Management was activated as part of the disaster response and evacuation centers were set up during the day at New Vista High School and the North Boulder Rec Center. They also set up a center at the Nederland Town Center.

The Boulder County Fairgrounds on Nelson Road in Longmont was accepting large animals affected by the evacuations and the Longmont and Boulder humane societies were offering to take in smaller pets for pet owners displaced by the wildfire. The Pikes Peak Humane Society in Colorado Springs is also accepting animals who've been left homeless by the fire.

The fire first broke out in Emerson Gulch near Four Mile Canyon Drive sometime after 10 a.m. Monday. Officials say a "possible" cause of the fire may have been a car running into a propane tank.

Additional Resources:
People affected by the wildfire and evacuations who have questions or issues are asked to call authorities through a special phone line -- (303) 413-7737 and/or 303-413-7730 instead of calling 911. You can also click on the links below for more information.