2013 Black Forest Fire - Late Post

Look closely and see the black vs. the remaining green area.

The Black Forest Fire which happened a couple of weeks ago became the most destructive fire in the history of Colorado.  It destroyed around 511 homes.  It was a very surreal feeling driving home the day the fire started seeing the smoke plume so close to town.  The cause hasn't been pinpointed yet but it wasn't caused by nature.   The evacuation area was very close to where we live.  Our old vet office was destroyed.  The church we occasionally attend survived but the hiking trail close to there was partially burned.  A girl I golf with lost her home but plans to rebuild.  When she was playing golf last week she noticed a couple of burn holes in her golf towel.  That's how close the fire embers were to her as she was throwing things into the back of her truck to escape.  Her home was very near to the beginning of the fire.  We haven't driven out into the area yet but I hear that it is devastating.  When I drive to work I can look east from a certain spot on my drive and see the burned trees.  There was the fear that it could have jumped the road and come up thru a wooded park where we hike and continue north into our area.  Alot of people are trying to improve their fire mitigation.  One of my friends just cut down over 50 trees.  We have a few we probably need to remove and we have always been picking up pine cones and needles. 

Wildfire!!!!!

 

It's been an eventful past week.  On Monday there was a small fire on the Air Force Academy that they have determined was started by lightning.  On Tues. after work I was doing a few errands and overheard a couple talking about a fire.  I assumed it was the AFA one and they said there was a new one.  It had just started in Black Forest.  I got home and was glued to the TV for the next several days.  It was way too close for comfort with the danger of jumping Hwy 83 and possible heading north and west toward us.  Every afternoon the wind picks up and concerned everyone.  Today is Sat. and it is now 55 % contained and they are going to reopen Rt. 83 soon.  We never got evacuated but we were packed up and ready to go.  We really need to get ourselves organized.  We need to do lots of scanning, get a lock box, and really decrease the number of photo albums.  473 homes were lost and 2 people have died trying to evacuate.  This fire is the most destructive fire in Colorado history.  We also need to work on fire mitigation.  A few years ago we had a forest service person come and walk our property and they said we had good spacing of the trees.  I'm going to have a fireman come also.  I think we may have to remove some trees.  The cause of the fire has been determined that it was not caused by nature.  That's really scary knowing that somebody is out there possibly setting fires!!!

WCF - Update

Stan and Bea returned to their home Friday night.  They found nothing out of the ordinary.  The freezers were still frozen, no signs of breakins (another neighborhood had 22 burglaries), and no smoke in the house.  The fire is 45 % contained and the preevacuation for Monument and Palmer Lake is lifted.  Time for more organization around our house to be prepared for any future evacuations.  We did have some rain without lightning yesterday afternoon but sure could use a bunch more.  We spent last eve weed eating our tall 'grasses' since the HOA requires us to 'mow' two times a summer. We still smell plenty of smoke though and hear lots of planes going over.

Waldo Canyon Fire 6/23/12

The Waldo Canyon Fire started 6/23/12 and is now only 5 % contained.  Stan and Bea were evacuated a couple of nights ago and think their home my be ok.  We're getting reports of 300 homes being destroyed in the Mountain Shadows area.  Monument and Palmer Lake are on pre-evacuation west of the hwy.  We're ok so far but have started 'gathering' things and trying to make a
plan.  Hopefully today we'll
get a big thunderstorm (with no lightning) to help the firefighters.
It's devastating to watch and I know several people who think they may have
lost their home.  Right now the fire is at the south end of the Academy and in several canyons. 

Too Close for Comfort

We went to Crested Butte for the weekend and on Sat. while we were gone a fire started in Waldo Canyon which I've hiked before several times.  It hasn't been contained and is growing.  Manitou Springs was evacuated but the residents can now return.  Hopefully it will be contained soon and no one will be hurt and no structures will be lost.