Fire update

I really should have done this yesterday, but I admit I didn’t feel like it.
I saw on the news last night about I70 being closed due to a fire I had not heard of before.  Turns out the fire was started by lightning Wednesday afternoon.

Now I’m on 9news again and am seeing names for fires that again I don’t recognize.  This is insane.

NOTE: I do not want to include a detailed location and map every time.  Please refer to my information and links on my blog post dated [date]  for info if you are curious about locations.  9news.com also has maps.


First up Is the Eby Creek fire.  As of this typing it is only 8 acres and is by Castle rock.  (between Denver and Colorado springs)  It started yesterday by lightning.  It is expected to be contained and put out quickly.

Next is the Flagstaff fire – the one in Boulder.  They are still saying it is 300 acres – so it doesn’t look like it’s doing much of anything. (Good)  It is currently 40% contained.

The first big fire – the High Peak  Fire is 87k acres with 85% contained.   This fire started June 9th and is responsible for 1 death and at least 259 homes burned.  The cause is listed as lightning.

The second big fire which is now worse then the High peak fire:
The Waldo Canyon fire-  This is the nasty one that “blew up” a few days ago.   It has now caused 1 death (though there is another person missing so unfortunately it may be 2.  ) :(   It has also burned 347 homes.    I saw a picture of the neighborhood – it’s layout was typical for suburbia – very close together houses.    All I want to know – was this in a forest area and if so what were people thinking putting a whole neighborhood in an area with a fire risk?    And btw ALL forest is a wildfire risk – even if it rained everyday.    At some point it won’t.    I’d like to think suburbs in Aurora, Broomfield, Westminster etc  would not burn like that simply because they aren’t surrounded by wild trees that can get dangerously dry, be filled with brush and killed by beetles.  Oh sure there are trees, but they should be well watered, and mostly well taken care of in comparison because they would be in people’s back yards and deliberately planted as opposed to being part of a forest.

Now if I’m wrong, and the neighbor hood wasn’t surrounded (or even on 2 or 3 sides)  then I’d want to know what the beep happened.  Yes I know that it surprised fire fighters and “blew up”  and I don’t blame them completely for not being able to predict that.   But if these neighborhoods were a few miles away right next to the forest – then there SHOULD have been a “fire line” established there just in case.  Of course, they may have been in the process of doing that.   I know they were in the process (well I heard this on the news)  of doing something similar to protect the flying W ranch – but they ran out of time when the winds kicked up and the fire flared.  

Still I think there is something wrong here – the other fire took a week to burn 200+ homes.  This did the same in days.     I think people need to rethink where they put these shoulder to shoulder neighborhoods, with large houses crammed next to eachother.

Getting off my soap box – The fire is also 16750 acres and only 15% contained.
added: After I got home from work I discovered that a 2nd person has been confirmed dead. 

Lightner Fire: This is a small fire burning near Durango.  It is 80 acres and it is 40% contained.  The cause is also listed as lightning.

Little Sand Fire:  This is a month old fire it is located NW of Pagosa Springs.  This is another lightning caused fire, but it is no where near houses/structures – so none have burned or are threatened.  This fire is currently 23k acres and 34% contained.

Pine Ridge Fire:  This is the one that started Wednesday – more lightning.  I70 was closed for a time, now one lane is open both directions in the effected area.   It is near Ne of Grand Junction and about 12k acres.  It is only 5% contained, and there are 35 gas wells in the path.   9news states that officials have shut off the wells.

Treasure Fire:  This fire has burned 470 acres and is 70% contained. It started June 23rd and is by Leadville.  This fire is listed as human caused and still under investigation.

           
           
The last active fire is the Weber fire  This is/has burned 9k acres and is 45% contained. It started June 22nd and is located in Montezuma County 6 miles south of Mancos. No houses have been burned but 100 were evacuated.  9news report “ Officials say someone started the fire, but no further details are available at this time.”


Note – I typed most of this up at lunch but am not posting it until this evening.  So stats may have changed by now.