Official Thread for all 2012 Colorado Fire Season Topics (Denver, Dillon: houses, living in)

[MountainK]

So, I'm sitting inside the house (in Douglas County) and the fire in Jefferson County smells like it's a bit too close to home. Fire in Jeffco foothills doubles to 200 acres; evacuations underway - The Denver Post

I feel bad for the evacuees and wonder if anyone is concerned that our 20+ degree above average temps, high winds, and driest March on record are going to result in a dangerous spring/summer? I love the warm weather, but hope these latest fires are not a sign of things to come....

[davebarnes]

Live in the city.
This does not happen.

[MountainK]

You're trolling... Living in the city does not result in improved air quality. Google "Denver's brown cloud" for a discussion on that topic. The temperature, precipitation, and wind speed is generally not significantly different in the city than in JeffCo. The Post writes "Smoke from the blaze can be seen from downtown Denver, which only complicated a blowing dust air quality advisory issued earlier in the day by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment."

[davebarnes]

Originally Posted by MountainK

Living in the city does not result in improved air quality. Google "Denver's brown cloud" for a discussion on that topic.

Who is writing about "air quality". Your original post was people being evacuated because of a wild fire.
My point was/is: we don't have wild fires within the City & County of Denver.
My point was/is: live in the city and you won't worry about wild fires.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by davebarnes

Who is writing about "air quality". Your original post was people being evacuated because of a wild fire.
My point was/is: we don't have wild fires within the City & County of Denver.
My point was/is: live in the city and you won't worry about wild fires.

You will worry plenty about the effects of wildfire on Denver proper if a megafire hits one of the major watersheds that supplies Denver with water. The silt and ash from the Hayman fire raised hell with the Marston water treatment plant that supplies a good chunk of Denver's water--and that fire, while huge, only was a glancing blow to the watershed. If a megafire ripped through, say, a large chunk of the Blue River watershed around Dillon (all very disease and fire-prone lodgepole forest), there would be a strong possibility that a good chunk of Denver's water supply could be compromised. The truly nightmarish scenario would be if several large fires burned simultaneously in both the South Platte and upper Colorado River watersheds (not beyond the realm of possibility with the beetle-kill of hundreds of thousands of acres of lodgepole that has already occurred). In a word, Denver's water supply could be ****ed in that scenario. Think about it the next time you turn on the tap.

[brightdoglover]

I just read about a big wildfire, I believe in the area of "densely populated southwest of Denver." Is this a lodgepole dead tree area, or near it?

[CosmicWizard]

This article might answer some of your questions

[Timmyy]

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

I just read about a big wildfire, I believe in the area of "densely populated southwest of Denver." Is this a lodgepole dead tree area, or near it?

Even if it wasn't a lodgepole dead tree area this place was ready to go up. No moisture whatsoever in the month of March. I don't live too far from the fire. I am not in any danger but we are getting the brunt of the smoke.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

I just read about a big wildfire, I believe in the area of "densely populated southwest of Denver." Is this a lodgepole dead tree area, or near it?

No, this area is mostly ponderosa pine (also susceptible to beetle kill) and mountain mahogany. Both can burn furiously when they are dry enough. This is damned early for all of this to start--without moisture, May and June could be really rip-roaring. It's likely that, by then, the focus will shift to west-central and southwestern Colorado. Typically the Front Range and Eastern Plains come under the influence of the westward expansion of the Bermuda High, and will start to get influxes of moister air from the Gulf of Mexico by mid-May and through June. However, western and southwestern Colorado typically do not get much of that until early to mid-July, when the Southwest Monsoon fetches moisture from both the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of California and brings it northward--with that influx usually lasting through around mid- to late August.

Of course, all of that assumes a normal year, which this year, so far, has been anything but. If the spring moisture fails to move into the Front Range normally, then the table is set for a savage fire season there. Similarly, if the Southwest Monsoon is late or weak, southern and western Colorado could be in the bull's eye.

One final note: From what I've read, most of the fires burning in Jefferson County have not been "crowning out"--that is, they are burning small trees, bushes, grasses, and underbrush. From a natural perspective, that is exactly the kind of fire you want to have if you're going to have one, since it replenishes soil nutrients, spares the large trees, and burns up the undergrowth of brush that allows a fire to "ladder up" and lets a fire "crown out." All well and good, except that these otherwise beneficial fires can easily burn houses and kill people who are in their path. A case where building in a stupid, bad place has disastrous results from what otherwise would be benign and beneficial fire.

[Mike from back east]

It's been dry all winter and it's still dry, with no rain in sight.

2012 could be a very bad year for Colorado forests and grass lands, and much of the nation is fairly dry.

We've merged a few new threads into this one thread where all fire topics are to be posted, regardless of where they are in COLO.