ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. — The American Red Cross is assisting two families left homeless following a Tuesday afternoon grill fire which officials believe is responsible for destroying two homes.

The fire, which broke out shortly before 2 p.m., happened in the 8500 block of Cook way in unincorporated Adams County.

“There was just no controlling it, the flames were about twenty feet in the air,” one witnesses told FOX31 Denver late Tuesday afternoon.

No one was injured in the blaze but both both properties are considered uninhabitable.

“It was pretty breathtaking it was like a nightmare come true,” said Dawson Jackson who lost a home in the fire.

Firefighters remained on the scene for several hours but wrapped up the clean-up around 7 p.m.

DENVER — The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is now reporting 763 cases of whooping cough in Colorado. From 2007-2011, the average number of cases was only 158 in the same time period.

FOX31 Denver spoke with a mother whose daughter caught the bacterial infection. “She would cough so hard she would almost vomit,” said Missy Wiggs.

Her daughter, Shelby, got sick August 1. Her fever went away soon after, but the cough persisted.

“[Doctors] said it was a sinus infection, but someone at school said whooping cough was going around,” Wiggs said. “I asked them to swab her and they said just for peace of mind they would swab her. Six days later they came back and said it was whooping cough.”

Doctors with the state health department aren’t altogether surprised.

DENVER — Foodies from across Colorado ventured to Civic Center Park in search of the perfect rib, the sweetest slice of pie and the smoothest sip of wine as part of the 29th annual Taste of Colorado. 

More than a half million people enjoyed food from more than fifty vendors.  The downtown park and surrounding streets were lined with everything from chicken and waffles to Asian fusion creations.  

Temperatures hit the 90’s but that didn’t affect the taste buds of those in search of those huge slow cooked turkey legs.

Kelly Wild and her husband celebrated the anniversary of their first date at the Taste. 

“Every year we come and celebrate,” Kelly says. “Now we bring our little guy.”  But it’s kind of hard to focus on romance with “Sticky Ribs” from the Parallel 17 restaurant just feet away.  As one food lover exclaimed, “It’s just a smorgasbord, you could just go nuts!”