Colorado fire season topic thread-2018 (Colorado Springs, Boulder: sale, neighborhoods, price)

[brightdoglover]

Originally Posted by jim9251

...
Just got a report from the NWS, toward the end of this week and in the next 10 days or so rain is forecast to be in the above 50% category for the western slope. I will run outside naked if that happens!

You'll probably have a lot of company!

[NW Crow]

Chance this surpasses Missionary Ridge fire in final size / cost has skyrocketed. May now be probable.


I have wondered if in situation like this whether military bombing to create fire lines or annihilate hot spots might be effective.

[jim9251]

416 fire - 16,765.13 acres
as of 6/9/18, 2:59 PM


The Burro fire was detected on June 8, 2018 at 3:45 pm about 2 miles east of the Gold Run Trail Head on the Dolores Ranger District on the San Juan National Forest. The Fire is burning in timber fuels in very steep terrain on both sides of Bear Creek. Crews are working the fire in full suppression strategy with handcrews, engines, smokejumpers, helicopters and air tankers.


As of 5:00 p.m. today, the Natty fire near Canon City was 100 percent contained at 79 acres. Fire crews are coming off the fire this evening, but the BLM will continue to patrol and monitor the site over the next few days until the fire is fully extinguished.

[Colorado Rambler]

From the Cortez Journal:

The Burro Fire grew to about 1,000 acres by Sunday afternoon in a remote area of the San Juan National Forest about 23 miles northeast of Dolores, and was expected to grow as dry conditions continue.

Firefighters looked to engage the fire on its southern end. According to Pat Seekins of the Dolores Ranger District, about 130 personnel were on-site, including a fire engine and Hotshot crews from Idaho, Nevada, Montana and Colorado, as well as a smokejumper crew from Idaho. Hand crews on Sunday focused their efforts near roads on the southern end of the fire, where the mixed conifer timber, including dead or fallen ponderosa pine and fir, was more dense. The steep, rugged terrain of the Bear Creek area has limited crews’ mobility. No injuries have been reported.

This afternoon I went out to inspect the smoke on the horizon and it looked exactly as if someone had dropped an atomic bomb in the vicinity of Dolores! There's a great deal of dead standing timber in the mountains where the Burro fire is raging. I was in the a part of the mountains where the fire has broken out last summer and I thought at the time that this portion of the forest was overdue for a good fire. I guess I was right, a fact which gives me absolutely no joy.

[jim9251]

The San Juan National Forest is planning to implement Forest-wide Stage 3 fire closure this week. The entire forest will be closed, no entry permitted for anything.

[DOUBLE H]

Jim's right. KKCO-11 news is the NBC affiliate for the western slope and they have just announced that closure.

[brightdoglover]

No rain forecast until Friday. I gather the NF closing is unusual during a fire? This fire is getting up there.

[DOUBLE H]

Regarding the northern part of the state KKCO reported on a subject that rarely is touched but it was an eye opener to me. The Colorado Division of Wildlife is closing a half mile stretch of the Yampa River between Stagecoach Dam and the boundary of Stagecoach State Park. This park is just over twenty miles south of Steamboat Springs on state highway 131.

You don't get a LOT of action with out of staters in this part of the state but you do with long time Colorado residents. Water flows are VERY low in that spot. Other fishing spots in that area seem ok, which would be Trappers Lake in the Flattops. I'm not aware of any other spots for fishing that the DOW is restricting, but I will post them as I hear of them.

[jim9251]

Ouray County has issued a Stage 2 burn ban. No burning of any kind at all.

[Colorado Rambler]

I live about 30 miles west of the Burro fire and 60 miles west of the 416 fire. This morning when I got up, both the mesas which make up Mesa Verde National Park and the Sleeping Ute Mountains were shrouded in smoke. The air has that acrid tang of near-by fire. My poor San Juan Mountains!

It must be really bad in places like Durango and Rico, and here it is only June. The monsoon can't arrive fast enough! Scattered thunderstorms are predicted for the weekend which could be a blessing or a curse. On the one hand there's the chance that a lightning strike could ignite another fire, on the other there's a 90% chance of badly needed rain. But Monday will see it turning dry and hot out here again.

The local fire update was just broadcast by Durango public radio (KSUT): The 416 fire has now burned 22,000 acres and is 10% contained. The Burro fire has now destroyed 26,000 acres with 0% containment. A total of almost a 1,000 firefighters are battling both fires. Highway 550 between Hermosa and Molas Pass remains closed. And there is an air quality advisory in effect for much of the Four Corners. No kidding! (cough, cough).