Posted on 06/23/2012 4:34:32 PM PDT by American Quilter
A new fire is burning at the western edge of Colorado Springs, Colorado; a few outlying communities have been evacuated and more are on voluntary-evacuation status. The wind is light and to the northeast. The fire is being called the Waldo Canyon fire since it's in or near Waldo Canyon; it is also being called the Pyramid fire. The fire started around noon today and is currently at 100-150 acres, with no containment. Temperatures here are in the high 90s with light winds and humidity in the single digits. The conditions are extremely bad with no relief in sight.
Worked as a fire fighter one summer in Florida. Most residential structures will catch fire from a vortex that gets created under the eaves or from the roof.
Best course of action is to evacuate. If you can place a sprinkler on top of your roof and on the fire side of the house, that may save the structure. I’ve seen it work before. Best to not have any flammables within minimum of 50 feet of the house. Soak the ground near the house 10 feet or so.
Most people worry about the fire and that is bad enough, but they forget about the smoke which is often the real killer. Without the right breathing masks, even if your “block” is not burned, the smoke can be bad enough to kill.
In a hot fire - not much survives. I’ve seen a crown fire move so fast that trees would first catch and then the fire was so hot that the water inside the tree would turn to steam and literately blow apart the tree.
If you can, get him out of there. Wild fire is nothing to mess with and by the time you realize you are in trouble, it is often too late.
Trust me after living in Colorado for 45 years I’m aware of what wildfires can do. We are about equally between the High Park fire in Ft collins and the new fire in Colo Spgs. My kids and I have been setting records for using our rescue inhalers for asthma. While it is highly unlikely the flames will reach his house, the smoke and general chaos can be as bad. In addition, if he were to have an unrelated medical emergency it would be very hard to get emergency care to him against all the fire traffic.
All who are near fires should evacuate even before being told they have to. That being said, what can you do with a stubborn 86 yo man? I can’t physically remove him and DH and I are working this weekend, so we cant go down and stay with him in case. I pray for all in harms way from the many fires.
The High Park fire has been tough. We drove up I-25 last week, nearly a week into the fire, and could see the fire from the interstate. They have contained the eastern side of the fire, for the most part, but with the extreme heat the last couple of days, the north & west lines were lost.
For over two weeks now, I have watched the plume of fire rolling east from the mountains.
I was really worried about the Estes Park fire today, but I think they have it under control. People reported that they rushed air support in for it, and with Estes Lake right there, they were able to contain it “faster.”
Another fire has started within the last hour—a “grass fire” in Cheyenne Canyon. This is also on the west side of Colorado Springs, but south of the Waldo Canyon fire. Fire crews already on the scene.
It seems highly unlikely that both of these fires started accidently on the same day.
My cousin lives in Green Mountain Falls and is preparing to evacuate.
I told my wife your comment. She said, "yeah, but we don't need no stinking' intervention."
That’s good news about the Estes Park fire.
Whether these fires are being set accidently or deliberately, I think this should be treated as a national emergency and firefighting crews and equipment brought in from all over the county.
Oh, great news—the Cheyenne Canyon fire has been put out. WHEW. If another one starts today, though, I think it will be hard to believe that it’s not arson.
Prayers up for your cousin.
Thanks for the humor on this scary day—I need it!
Listening to the scanner, commentary about all firefighters being fitted with gear so they can hike.
Breaking news on sidebar says the fire in Durango crossed a road.
The libs are screaming about global warming. They neglect the fact that the forests are too thick, and too thick with beetle kill trees, that they prevented being logged. They should have taken a bull dozer to some of these areas years ago.
In late 08 the entire crew left here to go and work for an outfit that was to do the fuel reduction for that. One of my old skidder Ops has been keeping me informed and said that there was NO WAY they could keep ahead of the beetle kill and that it was just a matter of time and the whole G Damm thing would go up in flames.
Well, its here.
Here in AZ we are running 24/7 trying to get things in order. Yet we still have them coming out and sabotaging idle equipment. We threatened to pull off the job by Flag because of this and the bullshit all stopped.
I feel for you, we lost damn near half the ranch last year due to fires, just over 12 sections.
Uh-Oh! This calls for a one hundred and first White House golf game.
Oh, man, I’m sorry to hear that.
Call on scanner again, neighbor calling in because neighbor is burning leaves & such. Now, I am not a fan of tattling, but who in their right mind would be out burning leaves in this area right now?
Yeah, 2008 was too late to start. They “debated” for far too long. We went through the west side of the Park in 2010 and the beetle kill on that side is devastating, whole mountain sides were grey. But, they were cutting down trees. I have always worried about a fire starting over there.
actually, the scary part is that these fires are not in the heart of the beetle kill.
Summit county and points NW should be very vigilant
Yes I recall about 70 degrees in the third week of August in Vail 1970. My first wife and I took an Amex mini vacation for our honeymoon. It was the mountain haus and we had 4 days and 3 nights for $75. It was cold enough at night to burn logs.We had a dinner plus a bottle of very good champagne on that deal. Where are those deals now? Seriously, I have friends there and pray for all.
I need an intervention. The only intervention I need though is MORE FABRIC!!!
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