The wind became a friend to a fire south of Larkspur Friday that quickly reached nearby homes.
A resident who lived near the fire says he and his friend could see the smoke from the fire - and that they were in their home when the power went out.
"[My friend] called 911 - by then we were halfway down the road and then the fire chief was behind us already," said Wyatt Noe.
A few homes in the area were evacuated as several local agencies were called in to help, among them Denver Fire, Larkspur Fire Protection, South Metro Fire and the U.S. Forest Service.
Noe told 9NEWS that the Larkspur fire got its name from his family. He added that some of his land, which his family's held since the 1800s burned Friday.
He said he thinks now might be a good time to sign up for CodeRed, a tool that lets first responders warn residents of fires in their area - and lets them know if they need to evacuate. You can sign up for alerts at this link.
After the Douglas County Sheriff's Office got word of the fire, they sent alerts out via the system. It's like a reverse-911 service that sends out messages to people's cellphones, landlines and emails.
"We want to give people as much notice as possible to say, 'hey, you might need to be ready to leave immediately - start thinking about it,'" explained Deputy Jason Blanchard.
While Blanchard supports the system, he said not enough people have signed up for it. He said the service isn't for law enforcement to just reach out whenever they want.
"It's us saying your house might burn down, it's time to get out," he said.
Counties across Colorado have a CodeRED or similar reverse-911 program.
Deputies went door-to-door to evacuate a couple of homes close to the blaze, and a pre-evacuation notice was sent out to residents in close-by neighborhoods.
The Larkspur Fire Department said the fire burned more than 20 acres. No structures were lost.
All previously closed roads have reopened as of 5:05 p.m.
Gusty winds and dry conditions along much of the front range and eastern plains Friday led to high fire danger.