Larimer County emergency officials lifted an evacuation ordered Monday afternoon for residents living west of Berthoud after a wind-whipped wildfire that burned a home.

Larimer County Sheriff’s officials said one house was destroyed in the fire, which burned about 30 acres. No injuries were reported.

Melora Luth, of 5108 Hulson Place in Berthoud, watched from afar as flames from the wildfire burned her property.

She and her husband, Bill Brindle, and 15-year-old son, David, were in their living room on Monday when they noticed the flames that started along West County Road 8e travel toward their home, first engulfing the ground near the pool area. As of 6 p.m. Monday evening, the 1,000-gallon propane tank on Luth’s property was still in flames.

“It’s a little devastating,” Luth said, her voice shaking as tears welled up in her eyes, the wind blowing fiercely around her. “It’s hard. I mean that was our whole lives. You know, we’ve lived here 18 years. The kids have grown up here, you know. I have two younger kids that are both in high school. It’s just hard.”

At 1:09 p.m., Luth called 911. She called again at 1:11 p.m. Fire department and law enforcement officials showed up to her residence around 1:20 p.m., she said.

Fortunately, she, Bill, and David were all able to leave the house in time and they have insurance for the home.

Fire department officials were able to rescue their pit bull, Cinnamon, from the burning residence.

However, she said they were unable to go back into the house to grab her two cats, Bella and Tuffy. As of early Monday evening, she had no idea if her cats were OK.

“We’ll rebuild,” Luth said. “You know, it’ll take a little bit. But we’ll rebuild and make it our home again. And we’ll go from there.”

Andrew Kuiken, division chief of training and logistics for the Berthoud Fire Protection District, said the agency responded to a wildfire along West County Road 8e shortly after 1 p.m. Homes in the nearby Rainbow Lake Estates were then evacuated.

The “very fast moving, wind-driven wildfire” burned 21 acres as of early Monday evening and destroyed one home and two non-residential outbuilding structures, per Kuiken.

However, no civilian or firefighter injuries were reported, he noted.

The cause of the wildland fire is still being investigated, the division chief said.

“It was interesting that this happened on a day like today,” Kuiken said. “It’s a red flag day. We have the high winds. We haven’t had the spring green up yet. Fire danger is in the forefront of our minds this time of the year. So, we’re just constantly encouraging our homeowners and property owners to be fire wise. Do a little bit of prevention now, so that things like this have a lower impact.”

He noted fire department officials were able to better control the wildland fire partially due to some prevention work from the homeowners in the area, including keeping the grass short and adding defensible spaces around their properties.

The original evacuation order was issued at 1:47 p.m. Monday, according to a NOCO ALERT.

LCSO officials reported 341 voluntary evacuation orders were issued, and 379 mandatory contacts were made.

Mandatory and voluntary evacuation orders were lifted at 4:02 p.m., according to a follow-up NOCO ALERT.

The evacuation order was for those living between North County Road 23 on the east going west to Highway 287 and between 42nd Street SW on the north and south to West County Road 8, according to the NOCO ALERT 911 alert notification.

Mandatory evacuations were issued to those living west of North County Road 23, while voluntary evacuation were order for those living east of North County Road 23 to Route 287.

Those evacuating were encouraged to gather essential belongings.

Large animal evacuations took place at the Ranch, 5280 Arena Circle.

The metro Denver area and parts of Colorado were on high wildfire alerts on Monday due to high winds and warm, dry weather.

Denver Gazette news partner 9NEWS and freelance writer Shen Wu Tan contributed to this report.