CONIFER, Colo. — A second person was found dead in the area burned by a wildfire that has destroyed at least 16 homes and forced hundreds to flee the mountainous area southwest of Denver, authorities said today.

A third person was missing from the same area where the two people were found dead.

The second body was found today inside a structure, Jefferson County sheriff’s spokeswoman Jacki Kelley said. The body of another person was found outside that same structure on Monday.

Authorities do not yet know whether the deaths were caused by the fire, which has grown to about 7 square miles.

The first victim wasn’t a firefighter or an emergency responder, sheriff’s spokeswoman Jacki Kelley said.

The fire is burning several miles and mountain ridges west of Denver’s tightly populated southwestern suburbs, which are not under threat.

It is about 25 miles southwest of Denver at an altitude that ranges from 7,000 to 8,200 feet.