Official Thread for all 2012 Colorado Fire Season Topics (Colorado Springs, Castle Rock: dangerous, castle)

[RiverBird]

Originally Posted by BForestW

we figure its a matter of the wind carrying the hot embers to the east side of 25, It should be wide enough to create a solid defensible space otherwise.

The military hasn't stepped in completely due to federal law stating all local and state resources must be exhausted first as well as fblm, before the military can fully aid and assist. This was stated during a live news conference earlier. Dropping water and fire retardant is useless with a blaze this big, would need an inland hurricane to extinguish it.

SALT extinguishes fires. Why aren't they air dumping tons of salt? It extinguishes the oxygen that fans the fires.

[Bideshi]

Originally Posted by JohnnyB76

I'd appreciate any opinions from you all on this matter...my 11 yr old son is scheduled to attend boy scout camp at Camp Chris Dobbins in Elbert, CO. Any idea what the air quality there will be over the next week? Is the Waldo Canyon fire headed NE? Trying to keep him safe but not jump the gun on canceling his plans.

I don't know the area well enough to respond. I suggest you DM Jazzlover. I understand your concern.

[hollyt00]

Can we please take all of the politics and anger and pointing fingers and pissed off screaming posts OUT OF HERE.... please? I'm coming in here to get updates and notifications, and all I see is ranting and raving, which is not helping the situation. There are people still in harm's way, and screaming about what SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED obviously won't change WHAT HAPPENED. so shut up PLEASE, and take those rants back to politics and controversies, and out of here.

The fire is heartbreaking to watch and really scary. I personally hope that the lack of foliage along I-25 will stop the fire jumping the highway.

Today is forecast to be much like yesterday, with the thunderstorms occurring which created the "outflow boundaries" and erratic winds... creating the 65 mph wind gusts... I'm worried if things will blow up again.

[CosmicWizard]

Watching the news with tears in my eyes and a prayer in my heart.

[MontanaGyrl]

Originally Posted by newenglandgirl

SALT extinguishes fires. Why aren't they air dumping tons of salt? It extinguishes the oxygen that fans the fires.

This is not a stovetop kitchen fire. We are talking tens of thousands of acres. Salt would render the soil sterile and no vegetation would grow there again for a very, very long time. Furthermore, the salt would wash into the watershed and kill all the vegetation there in addition to all the fish and other aquatic species, both in the immediate area and far, far downstream, affecting everyone and every animal in a huge area.

My thoughts go out to everyone affected by the fires. I've fought wildfires before -- it is one of the hardest jobs in the world and the firefighters are doing the best they can under horrific conditions.

[PokerMunkee]

Absolutely heartbreaking to see people's homes go up in flames in your community. No dobut a lot of people are upset and looking to blame people, some people have a different way of expressing their sadness.

News briefing at 8am, so we'll get more numbers. Denver news channel leaked it will be over 15,000 acres now burned (24 sq miles). It's tripled in the last 24hrs

[DOUBLE H]

Originally Posted by hollyt00

Can we please take all of the politics and anger and pointing fingers and pissed off screaming posts OUT OF HERE.... please? I'm coming in here to get updates and notifications, and all I see is ranting and raving, which is not helping the situation. There are people still in harm's way, and screaming about what SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED obviously won't change WHAT HAPPENED. so shut up PLEASE, and take those rants back to politics and controversies, and out of here.<<<<Absolutely!

The fire is heartbreaking to watch and really scary. I personally hope that the lack of foliage along I-25 will stop the fire jumping the highway.

Today is forecast to be much like yesterday, with the thunderstorms occurring which created the "outflow boundaries" and erratic winds... creating the 65 mph wind gusts... I'm worried if things will blow up again.

In the Grand Junction/Fruita area overnight that's just what we had. At my house we had consistent 35 to 40 m.p.h. winds starting about midnight and going to 2 a.m. 60 m.p.h. gusts? Yes. CosmicWizard! How bad was the wind at your house?

[jim9251]

Here's some up to date links:

InciWeb the Incident Information System: Colorado Incidents

Current Wildfires - Colorado State Forest Service - Colorado State University

Also you can click here and listen to the various Colorado live fire and police dispatch:

Colorado Live Police, Fire, and EMS Scanners on RadioReference.com

This is a live map showing shelters, fire commands, closed roads etc. Just scroll to the Ft Collins or Colorado Springs areas:

Google Maps APRS

[jazzlover]

I have been a harsh critic of forest management practices and often lacking to non-existent planning and zoning that could had helped to prevent or a least reduce the impacts of the current forest fire catastrophe in Colorado. All of that said, this year is a once-in-a-century drought and fire event that, in many places, is proving that nature can overwhelm even the best fire mitigation plans, as well as overwhelm the most vigorous firefighting effort that can be mounted. I am completely convinced that the fire management people and all of the firefighters working under them--from local agencies all the way to the Federal government--are doing everything they can to meet this challenge. However, I don't think that any of those fire management folks contemplated that they would confront a multi-front war against multiple major and dangerous fires occurring at one time across such a huge geographical area. The record of drought in Colorado shows that drought typically does not cover the entire state at a magnitude that we are seeing now. Similarly, fire danger is seldom elevated to the extreme category in virtually the entire state at once. But, that is what we have this year.

As to the gravity of the present situation, it is bad. And we may yet face the most pervasive danger: that would be if a major "megafire" started in the area of tens of thousands of acres of dead and dying lodgepole forest in Grand and Summit Counties. Though the loss of structures there could be very significant, the huge risk is that such a fire could effectively cripple the watershed for about half of metro Denver's water supply--and that impact could last for a year or more. If such a fire were to ignite in conditions similar to those that occurred in Colorado Springs yesterday, probably nothing less than God Almighty himself could stop it.

Were I the federal managers of the public lands (Forest Service, BLM, etc.), I would be strongly considering placing full Stage III restrictions (full public land closure) across all public lands of Colorado until the fire danger eases. This is obviously a tough call for the public land agencies to make because public land closures have a devastating effect on thousands of tourist-dependent businesses in Colorado (and I know a lot of people who own or work in those businesses), but, at this point, the fire danger is so extreme and firefighting resources are so thinly stretched that closure may be only alternative available to at least eliminate most of the possibility of a human-caused ignition. (This may be crucial in the next week, as there are always some idiots igniting fireworks on the public lands over the 4th of July holiday.) Unfortunately, nature is going a pretty good job of lighting fires without any help from we humans.

If there is anything positive about the current situation, I think that it is that it will dispel the notion among many that Colorado is somehow "immune" to major natural disasters and the misguided idea that urbanized metro areas are somehow exempt from the rules of nature.

[MtnJam]

SOCAL wrote: You're the clueless one that has no idea what kind of technology exists out there. You're the exact reason why firefighting hasn't changed in 50 years in America. And why Colorado SPrings will burn to the ground.

The question is where is the Evergreen Supertanker? Why the hell aren't there 50 Evergreen supertankers on the way fighting these fires? 20,500 gallons x 50-100 drops is some SERIOUS water/fire retardent firepower. But idiots like you have no clue what resources TRULY exist in the US. And you're completely wrong..........GOVERNMENT CAN SOLVE NATURAL DISASTERS like fires......hurricanes are a completely different issue. But even Katrina was so **** poorly prevented by the Corps of Engineers and the rickety crappy old levy system. Fires can be snuffed out in minutes before they ever get off the ground with the resources government has. It's all about the idiots we have running the government. You'd probably make a good politician. LOL.



Fires like these are a result of many decades of too much fire suppression, and permitting unwise people to build homes in the woodpile. Fires, albeit much smaller ones, are nature's way of thinning overgrown, late stage forests. And you are correct - it will be a long time before these burned forests return to their previous overgrown and choked "glory", if we're stupid enough to let that happen again.
In the meantime, Mother Nature's cycle will begin again with grasses and deciduous trees over the next several years.
For now, my heart goes out to the firefighers and displaced homeowners.