Official Thread for all 2022 Colorado Fire Season Topics (Denver, San Luis: house, allergies)

[suzco]

Press conference today about
Colorado's 2022 Wildfire Preparedness Plan

April 22, 2022
The presentation and release of the state’s 2022 Wildfire Preparedness Plan came in the wake of a multitude of wildfires this week, including the Monte Vista Fire, which displaced six families on Thursday, the Table Mountain Fire near Longmont, and the Duck Pond Fire near Gypsum, among several others. A handful of fires broke out Friday as well.

Morgan explained that as 2022 progresses, drought conditions and the high likelihood of large fires will travel across the southern half of the state to the western slope. By late June, the western slope may see monsoonal moisture, Morgan said. Along the Front Range, current forecasts show that extreme drought conditions will continue into July.

Projections suggest an earlier-than-normal start to the “core fire season” in the second half of May across southern Colorado, according to the Wildfire Preparedness Plan. Warm and dry conditions will bring “drought intensification” and early snowpack runoff . . .

[Mike from back east]

Fire map https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/v...1c96e907a1fc3#!

[suzco]

Quick response saves the day:

Grass Fire Forced Evacuations Near Arvada-Westminster Border - Quickly Brought Under Control

Winds are wild again.

[Colorado Rambler]

...RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM THIS MORNING TO
10 PM MDT THIS EVENING FOR GUSTY WINDS, LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY AND
DRY FUELS FOR FIRE WEATHER ZONES 207 AND 295 BELOW 8000 FEET...
...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM TO 10 PM MDT TUESDAY FOR
GUSTY WINDS, LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY AND DRY FUELS FOR FIRE WEATHER
ZONES 207 AND 295 BELOW 8000 FEET...

The National Weather Service in Grand Junction has issued a Red
Flag Warning below 8000 feet for gusty winds, low relative
humidity and dry fuels, which is in effect from 11 AM to 10 PM
MDT Tuesday. The Fire Weather Watch is no longer in effect.

* AFFECTED AREA...In Colorado, Fire Weather Zone 207 Southwest
Colorado Lower Forecast Area and Fire Weather Zone 295
Southwest Colorado Upper East Forecast Area below 8000 feet.

* WINDS...Southwest 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 45 mph.

* RELATIVE HUMIDITY...6 to 13 percent.

* IMPACTS...Conditions will become favorable for easy ignition
and rapid spread of fires due to low relative humidity and
strong gusty winds this afternoon and evening and again Sunday.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions
are either occurring now, or will shortly. A combination of
strong winds, low relative humidity, and warm temperatures can
contribute to extreme fire behavior.

The wind has been relentless here in the Four Corners and it shows no sign of letting up any time soon. For the past two days the wind has brought us plenty of dust - and more scary - plenty of smoke from the awful wildfires in New Mexico. The Sleeping Ute is right in my backyard and I haven't been able to see it for all the smoke.

Fingers crossed that we don't get any spread of wildfire from down south and/or no one does something careless to ignite new fires here.

[suzco]

Evacuations in two different Colorado Springs neighborhoods for 2 fires

Colorado Springs Fire Department is currently on scene of multiple grass fires, one near Stetson Hills Boulevard and Anna Lee Way and the other at Skylark Mobile Home Park east of I-25 and south of Garden of the Gods Road.

As of 2 p.m., about 500 homes were evacuated in the Stetson Hills neighborhood impacting about 1,000 people. At that time, the estimated size of the fire was about 25 acres and evacuation orders were still in place.

At about 2:30 p.m. CSFD provided an update on the fire at the Skylark Mobile Home Park. At that time, CSFD was reporting the Skylark fire was 100 percent contained after eight mobile homes were destroyed and propane tanks caused flames to reach up to 50 feet. Evacuation orders were still in place in the latest update.

The cause of both fires continue to be under investigation. No injuries were reported in either fire, however crews are still searching the mobile homes that were destroyed. . .

[suzco]

Colorado Springs Airport evacuated, Powers Boulevard closed as crews battle grassfire

UPDATE 5:30 P.M.
The Colorado Springs Airport is being evacuated due to the fire.

A mandatory evacuation order has been issued for a neighborhood near the Colorado Springs Airport due to a fire Thursday afternoon, officials with the El Paso County Sheriff's Office announced.

The affected area is south of Milton Proby Parkway, east of Hancock Expressway, north of Bradley Road and Alturas Drive and west of Peak Innovation Parkway in the Security-Widefield area. The blaze is near the Amazon Distribution Center off of Powers Boulevard.

[Brill]

Another fire is west of cripple creek

[Mike from back east]

Today's WaPo has a really nice interactive graphic on wildfire risk in the USA. The story says 1 in 6 Americans lives in a risky area.

Readers may put in their zip code and find the level of risk in their area. Even in suburban Phoenix the map tells me I'm living in a high risk zone where 93% of the homes are at risk.

As a paywall site the WaPo is the best $11 that I spend each month.


Excerpt from article: "When a wildfire tore through drought-stricken towns near Boulder, Colo., late last year, it reminded Americans that fire risk is changing. It didn’t matter that it was winter. It didn’t matter that many of the more than 1,000 homes and other structures lost sat in suburban subdivisions, not forested enclaves. The old rules no longer applied. A new analysis reveals for the first time that a broad swath of the country, not typically associated with wildfires, is already under threat. Nearly 80 million properties in the United States stand a significant chance of exposure to fire, according to a model built by the nonprofit First Street Foundation."

Note: A full report is downloadable from the First Street Foundation link.

[suzco]

Don't think it's been mentioned yet:

The High Park Fire burning west of Cripple Creek remains at 1,572 acres as of Tuesday morning

TELLER COUNTY, Colo
During a 9 a.m. briefing Tuesday, Lathan Johnson, operations section chief trainee with Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team 1, said fire crews made good progress Monday.

Helicopters dropped water on areas of heat, and ground crews built containment lines and conducted burnout operations in the tough terrain.

The fire remains 37% contained.

In an effort to assist fire crews responding to the High Park Fire, Woodland Park School District Superintendent Mathew Neal organized a plan to assist at the incident command center at 4 Mile Fire Station in Teller County, which includes closing one elementary school each day May 17 through May 19 to allow staff members to provide support to the fire crews. On May 20, the middle school and high school staff will be released as the need warrants, the district said, though the buildings will stay open for preschool and center-based programs.

[waltcolorado]

Siimms fire broke out yesterday about 10 miles NW of Ridgway CO. Evacuations currently in place and three structures burned as of this morning.

https://www.ouraynews.com/news/three...uUMg3OnpE2fMCQ

As of late Thursday, it was estimated to be burning 370 acres.

The fire is suspected to have ignited from a prescribed burn started earlier in the week, but the cause is still under investigation.

We have had relentless winds this spring so tough job trying to balance a prescribed burn with the increased risk of not doing prescribed burns.

Interesting also is that the windy spring has deposited more dust than normal on the mountain snow packs and both the wind and dust are causing the snow to melt a little faster than normal.

The very much needed moisture that Colorado is getting today is mostly to the East of us here but hopefully we get some moisture.