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High Park Fire

29K views 271 replies 70 participants last post by  bikerglen 
#1 ·
#176 ·
Yes, your discussion is invalid. Unless you think the USFS is gleaning their forest management advice from your MTBR posts then there is nothing "constructive" about discussing qualified risk or mitigation strategy here. It's just spouting useless drivel to feed an ego.

I'd love to have you come down and explain the qualified risk to the husbands of the couple of families I helped evac last weekend.

No, I don't give a rat's ass about your freedom of social media expression either. If you were there in person I'd simply slap you upside the head and tell you to have some fvcking respect.

Time and place for everything. I fail to see how this is either.
 
#177 ·
I think the discussion here has been quite good. Enough said. I've been following this thread, mainly since it provides more readily available insight than some of the news media.

I of course have thoughts on these fires. I'm frustrated that, at least I only perceive, emergency reaction as the only current course of action for managing wild fires. How can I put this without offending? It's frustrating to see all the resources put into knee jerk reaction to protect homes - INSTEAD OF managing the forests in the first place. I know it is easier and politically more acceptable to rush to the defense. And I have no disagreement, once we arrive at this point our only course of action is defense.

I just wish there was more proactive emphasis on avoiding the huge infernos in the first place. I would volunteer, in fact a few days I sent an email to the USFS, let me know how I can assist in helping to avoid these catastrophic wild fires. I realize my help is a drop in the bucket, but I wonder if we would be surprised how many volunteers would step up to help manage the forests, given direction.

I am ignorant. I don't know much about the cost of the current wildfire fight vs the cost of thinning, whatever ahead of time. I'm sure it is easier to justify resources for highly visible emergencies than it is for proactive cleansing of the forests. It's no different at my job, but at my job I also question how long can we sustain constantly fighting fires, rather than avoiding them with some up front work?

I know there is proactive measures, like controlled burns. It just seems we are WAY behind and in no hurry to catch up to reality.

Thanks for reading.
 
#185 ·
Regardless of the debate surrounding forestry policy and the development of the urban/wilderness interface the forest fire fighters risk their lives to protect people's homes. Obviously many of them, perhaps most, are adventurous young male woodsmen. However, that cannot detract from the risk they place themselves in to protect the homes of people they do not even know. It makes me think of this song and the book "Young Men and Fire" which are based on the tragedy at Mann Gulch, Montana in 1949.

 
#192 ·
speaking from experience, the smoke and particulates were pretty bad in wildland firefighting but the real danger still comes from structure fires. Plastics, carpet, furniture and fire retardants all pose greater risks to FFers. Even with breathing apparatus the residual exposure from turn out gear after the fire is still dangerous.
 
#195 ·
In anticipation of potential gusty winds predicted with the Red Flag warning issued for today, a new mandatory evacuation order has been issued for the Hewlett Gulch Subdivision. All residents should evacuate immediately. This evacuation includes:

Hewlitt Gulch Road
Swan
Snow Cliff Road
Deer Meadow Way
Star View Drive
Gobbler's Knob Court
Happy Jack Road
Sara Lane
Mount Mahogany
Rainbows End
Weatherbird Way
Red Tail Trail
Gordon Creek Lane
Wild Mountain Lane

This area runs West from the Glacier View 9-12th Filings already evacuated, East to Hewlett Gulch Trail, North to Highway 74E (Redfeather Lakes Road) and south to Highway 14 (Poudre Canyon Rd).96 notices have been sent out regarding this new evacuation. Residents should also be advised to use caution while driving because of heavy smoke in the area.
 
#201 ·
I kept saying to those I met at Spring Brook "heck of a day to be fighting a fire" as we were all being buffeted about by real strong wind gusts. Last night the smoke was pouring west from the High Park Fire just like last week.
 
#204 ·
It Is ALIVE !!

Fueled by the temps, it was 100* in town this afternoon, 5% humidity, and 35 mph winds, "The Fire" has jumped the Poudre and is currently burning out multiple homes in Glacier View (near Read Feather Lakes)

Conditions are so extreme they had to pull back all of the firefighters to a safe zone and just let the fire run and run it has !!

"Extreme fire behavior" in Glacier View Meadows subdivision has firefighters waiting in a safe zone, fire information officer Brett Haberstick said.

Multiple homes are burning in Hewlett Gulch to the east, a few hours after a spot fire leaped the Poudre River and the High Park Fire extended into the two forested neighborhoods.

"You can tell by the column of smoke being generated by this that fire activity is significant, it is extensive and it is burning very hot," Haberstick said. "It's something that is extremely unsafe for anybody to be involved in."
This was the view from my house around 6:30pm.

 
#210 ·
It Is ALIVE !!

Fueled by the temps, it was 100* in town this afternoon, 5% humidity, and 35 mph winds, "The Fire" has jumped the Poudre and is currently burning out multiple homes in Glacier View (near Read Feather Lakes)

Conditions are so extreme they had to pull back all of the firefighters to a safe zone and just let the fire run and run it has !!

This was the view from my house around 6:30pm.

Incredible to see smoke like that after so many clear-ish days. Had to figure it was coming without it being contained, but the fire must have grown a lot today.
 
#205 ·
The fire seemed like it was almost out yesterday morning. I drove down Mountain Vista about 8:30am and couldn't see a whiff of smoke over the foothills. By the time evening rolled around the smoke was back and when I rode this morning at 6am you couldn't see the foothills for smoke and haze. The smoke today has grown exponentially and the sunset in northern Fort Collins tonight was particularly red.

As sad as it is to see the fire continue to burn with such ferocity I'm glad they had sense to pull the firefighters back to a safe zone. Here's wishing for some actual rain and not those dark clouds full of empty promises.
 
#207 ·
The fire seemed like it was almost out yesterday morning. I drove down Mountain Vista about 8:30am and couldn't see a whiff of smoke over the foothills. By the time evening rolled around the smoke was back and when I rode this morning at 6am you couldn't see the foothills for smoke and haze. The smoke today has grown exponentially and the sunset in northern Fort Collins tonight was particularly red.

As sad as it is to see the fire continue to burn with such ferocity I'm glad they had sense to pull the firefighters back to a safe zone. Here's wishing for some actual rain and not those dark clouds full of empty promises.
After a beautiful clean crisp air day at Curt Gowdy...


I thought that this was a thunderhead cloud


It wasn't.


But hey, on the bright side, here's a tennis ball!


My heart goes out to everyone immediately impacted. It jumped Hwy 14 and the Poudre at Sheep Mountain, just south of many homes. Also, the town of Rustic looks like it could be in immediate danger.
 
#206 ·
It's official, containment dropped from 60% to 45% with no relief in the weather for at least the next week.

The supervisor for the White River NF, the largest district in CO mentioned they may need to go to a Stage 3 warning soon if conditions don't drastically change.

A Stage 3 warning means no human travel anywhere outside of a vehicle.
 
#211 ·
Thanks again for all the updates. My son and his family just moved to Delta from Loveland this week, so I have lost my connection to the Front Range for now. I have very fond memories of some of my favorite trails there and I know it will break my heart to see the destruction of the area. My thoughts and prayers go out to all the people affected by this fire. Pray for rain or snow.
 
#215 · (Edited)
Timber Trail Impact

I posted this map already in another thread but thought I'd update it with the latest data and put it in the main High Park fire thread. Base layer is the USGS Horsetooth 24K DRG. The orange area is the latest fire perimeter from geomac.gov. It's dated June 23, 2012, 00:51. The blue line is a ride I did in May 2010 of Timber, Howard, and West Valley. Timber trail was definitely impacted by the fire. Below the map is a photo I took the first Saturday of the fire from the top of Tower road at 10:45am.
 

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#216 ·
I posted this map already in another thread but thought I'd update it with the latest data and put it in the main High Park fire thread. Base layer is the USGS Horsetooth 24K DRG. The orange area is the latest fire perimeter from geomac.gov. It's dated June 23, 2012, 00:51. The blue line is a ride I did in May 2010 of Timber, Howard, and West Valley. Timber trail was definitely impacted by the fire. Below the map is a photo I took the first Saturday of the fire from the top of Tower road at 10:45am.
Great map, thanks for posting.
 
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