Wildfires caused by warm, windy weather occurred Tuesday into the southeast Colorado town of Ordway, killing 3 people and forcing about 1,000 residents to leave.

The wind made the flames to spread quickly across 11 square miles of grassland in the neighborhood of Ordway.

A firefighting plane crashed near Fort Carson. The pilot, who did not survive, was not identified, but the plane was registered to Aero Applicators of Sterling.

More than 20 buildings were damaged in the small town and at least two state highways were closed.

Three heavy air tankers, each with the capacity of carrying 2,500 gallons of fire retardant were sent to Ordway, but firefighters requested at least seven.

The firefighters hope that rain and snow forecasted for Wednesday would help them stop the fires that keep spreading. Forecasters said a spring storm was moving towards Colorado and will reach the state on Wednesday.

Another wildfire occurred near Carbondale, about 120 miles west of Denver, burning about 1,000 acres, damaging two homes and injuring one resident.

According to the Associated Press, Red Cross spokeswoman B.J. Coyle said the agency was announced by the authorities to prepare for around 1,000 evacuations in Carbondale.

Crowley County Sheriff Miles Clark requested the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to help determine the cause of the fires.

A possible explanation would be that the fires broke out after a very dry month of March.