Fires in CO and UT (&OK) force TENs of Thousands to Evacuate

[Blacksmith]

I think the fires can now be called a disaster. Two hundred homes have now been lost.

SALT LAKE CITY — Firefighters struggled on Saturday to contain wind-stoked wildfires that forced the evacuation of more than 2,000 people in Utah and 1,000 more in Colorado.

Fanned by winds, the so-called Dump Fire about 35 miles south of Salt Lake City, Utah grew to 5,600 acres on Saturday from 4,000 late Friday, and was only about 30 percent contained, Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Cami Lee said.

In neighboring Colorado, firefighters grappling with the High Park Fire, a 75,537-acre blaze burning in steep mountain canyons west of Fort Collins, braced for another round of hot temperatures, low humidity and erratic winds on Saturday.

Late Friday afternoon, wind-stoked flames jumped containment lines and roared through a subdivision, destroying an estimated nine homes, Larimer County Sheriff's Office spokesman John Schulz said.

About 1,000 evacuation notices went out Friday night due to the fire's run.

The additional property losses bring to 200 the number of dwellings lost in the two weeks since the lightning-sparked blaze was first spotted in Colorado.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47926409/ns ... -ZPgvWZh_o

Of particular note:

Officials say target shooters triggered the blaze near a city landfill on Thursday. It is the 20th fire in Utah started by target shooting this year, they said.

IME the county land fill serves as the range for the local sheriffs department, although I have no idea if this is the case here.

[TacAir]

OK - I'll bite. How does "target shooting' start a fire, unless the maroons were using tracer ammo?

(Ninja edit) Target shooters OTOH could start a fire with a BBQ or disposal of smoking materials...or some such.

[Blacksmith]

OK - I'll bite. How does "target shooting' start a fire, unless the maroons were using tracer ammo?

(Ninja edit) Target shooters OTOH could start a fire with a BBQ or disposal of smoking materials...or some such.

Purely a guess but if they are not using tracers, shooting in a dump means that they could have struck all manner of debris that could have sparked and started a fire.

[majorhavoc]

Shoot an old computer or TV and short a capacitor. That'll start a fire. Tannerite, mebe?

[TacAir]

(Shrugs) Local paper said 20 fires have been started by "target shooters" Odd set of circumstances...

Another bit that caught my eye -
"In addition to keeping a close eye on flames possibly shifting back toward populated areas, 400 firefighters on Saturday focused on keeping the fire from encroaching on four critical electricity transformers in Israel Canyon. If those go down, officials said, the whole region could lose power."

[andygates]

Sparks 'n' dry stuff. I know whenever I've plinked at junk, the metal junk is the most fun to plink.

Linkfest at Slashdot (of all places): http://politics.slashdot.org/story/12/0 ... vacuations

[driftking777]

earlier this year we were also having issues with fires being started a shooting ranges. The big issue is having tall dry grass near the backstops and having rocks in the dirt (in the backstops) When you shoot its sparking off the rocks and into the grass.

[Regulator]

I can tell you with 100% certainty that Tannerite will start dry grass on fire. No pics, but I might still have the empty fire extinguisher around I could get a pic of… That was an exciting day

[Blacksmith]

When I was much younger one of the PLs in my unit burned down a good chunk of Ft. Carson grasslands, including the SAW range. He was using tracers though. Once a good grass fire gets going it is really hard to put out because it moves so fast.

[tookieblueeyes]

About 9-10 years ago I had my fathers 30-06 out in a sandy arroyo out between Tioga and Pinoville (local names for small goups of homes and familys) behind the town where I grew up and I was only shooting at water filled milk jugs and liter bottles and whatnot, nothing really spectaular but one shot I took riccocheted off of the rocks that were off behind and to the right of my targets (I was way off my mark) and I saw what was clearly a spark fly. about 20 minutes after that happened and I was packing up to go home I noticed a thin tendril of smoke rising up from a crevace beneath the rocks where I had caused that spark. When I went over to see what was going on there was a small fire buring in a couple of clumps of dead dry grass that had been growing beneath these boulders. I quickly put it out with some of the water that was left in the bottoms of the jugs I had brought along for target practice but this story just shows that it can happen and all it takes it the right rock and the righ bullet trajectory.

Kinda freaked me out. I have been a lot more careful of my aim since then and try not to set up anywhere that isn't more or less safe.

Of course, what happened to me could just be a freak occurance, but all it takes is one fluke and bam... you started a wildfire with a bullet.

[Blacksmith]

Manitou Springs is being evacuated. It is essentially a suburb of Colorado Springs these days. Also closed were Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak. This changes the evacuations into the tens of thousands.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47938078/ns ... -dY-vWZh_o

In some neighborhoods, police cruisers rolled down streets, issuing the order to leave through a loudspeaker.

"Colorado Springs Police Department," an officer said. "This is a mandatory evacuation notice. Evacuate now."

Hope they had their GOOD bags ready. A good lesson to be prepared for anything at all hours.

[tookieblueeyes]

:(

Manitou Springs is being evacuated. It is essentially a suburb of Colorado Springs these days. Also closed were Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak. This changes the evacuations into the tens of thousands.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47938078/ns ... -dY-vWZh_o

In some neighborhoods, police cruisers rolled down streets, issuing the order to leave through a loudspeaker.

"Colorado Springs Police Department," an officer said. "This is a mandatory evacuation notice. Evacuate now."

Hope they had their GOOD bags ready. A good lesson to be prepared for anything at all hours.

I don't know... so many people living in larger communities even if they are suburbs (of a kind) of a large city don't think things like this can actually happen to them. I have spoken to so many people living in Colorado Springs and other cities that honestly think they are safe from threats like these. I don't know why people think that just because they live in a larger urban area that they are safe from things like wildfires, especially when so many cities here in colorado alone butt right up against forest, mountains and grasslands.

I do hope that people were prepared or at least got prepared 24 hours in advance when the fire was first being reported on.

That is one hell of an evacuation!

If Manitou springs burns then so much history and stuff will be lost forever

I love Manitou Springs and Old Colorado City!

My Jamie died there in a roll over car accident in Garden of the Gods. She was trying to convince me to move to the springs and I was going to, always wanted to, just had to finish college first (at least that was priority then). I hate to see the community burn to the ground when it was somewhere so special to jamie and myself.

http://www.koaa.com/news/manitou-neighborhood-evacuated/

[tookieblueeyes]

I also found this local article on the Waldo Canyon wildfire that is threatening the Garden of the Gods, Manitou Springs, Ute Pass and other surrounding areas.

"I'm really darn scared and really sad. We built this house 18 years ago," said Dianna Wagner, helpless as the flames crept over the nearby ridge and ever closer to her home.

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2012/0623/20120623__WoodlnadHeights34~p1.jpg

“We’ve got a dog loose and we don’t know where it is,” said Martha Gallagher, who lives in the same area.

The fire, she said, is " much too close for comfort.”

“As soon as it’s mandatory, I’m out of here,” said her husband Jim Gallagher.

[Impus]

Boots on the ground. linky... viewtopic.php?f=82&t=95874 and another linky... http://www.inciweb.org/incident/2929/ thoughts, ideas, observations?

[Blacksmith]

Boots on the ground. linky... viewtopic.php?f=82&t=95874 and another linky... http://www.inciweb.org/incident/2929/ thoughts, ideas, observations?

I think you did as well as you could have not it is a waiting game to see if the fire fighters can hold it off. I wonder if they called up the soldiers at Ft. Carson? In the past that was a rotational unit duty to go out and assist in fighting fires in the area. I don't know if they still do it now.

Idea: Add coffee to bug out bag.

Good luck and I hope your cabin makes it.

[Impus]

Was listening to the scanner yesterday, Ft. Carson's firefighting assets and Peterson AFB's were offered, but not being called upon yet, because the fire was in a place where the only way in is a hiking trail (the Waldo Canyon Trail). Now that the fire has reached US 24, I would not be surprised to see a LOT of hardware deployed.

As I left town this morning the place was quickly filling up with dozens of trucks and hundreds of firefighters. Since the mission focus is asset protection (thank you! My house is an asset!), I assume they're setting up to make a stand in town, hosing down houses and forming a defensive line.

[Blacksmith]

Supposedly the fire is burning down hill into the wind. That is pretty dang evil right there.

[williaty]

One of my friends works in a hospital almost in the fire now and her home has been less than 20mi downwind from the front all day. I just got a text from her that the wind shifted to blow it in a direction that'll keep it the same distance from her house. So she's getting a reprieve for tonight, but a single windshift still leaves the possibility of being very close to the fire line.

[Dawgboy]

I have a friend out on the line that is an EMT with an wildlands engine company from the Denver area. No word from him. which I assume means he is working his ass off.

[Blacksmith]

Some things worth noting from the Gazette:

El Paso County is receiving an increased number of code enforcement complaints as a result of the fire.

“People are calling to complain about their neighbor’s property. They have lots of pine needles, tall weeds and piles of branches," Mark Gebhart, the county's development code administrator, said in a statement.

"The callers want this handled immediately because of the fire concerns," he said.

Gebhart said the county doesn’t have the legal ability, staff or financial means to solve the problem immediately.

This should have been addressed before the region was on fire.

Springs Rescue Mission is starting to accept items for people affected by the fire.

The items in greatest demand are Gatorade, blankets, food, clothing and household items, the agency said in an email.

Donations can be dropped off at the agency's warehouse, 1 W. Las Vegas St. The warehouse is open from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Saturday.

While other gas stations in Woodland Park are out of gas except diesel, at least one had fuel and a steady stream of customers.

Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/monday- ... z1yrMbDK00

Highway 24 woes also left Red Cross evacuees wondering who would provide dinner Monday night at the but Summit Elementary shelter in Divide, which housed 30 people.

“Normally our food comes from the Springs,” shelter manager Richard Garcia said. “But our supply lines have been cut off.”

Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/canyon- ... z1yrNU59El

Not many surprises to those who prep but a lot of lessons here.

[Blacksmith]

Many more at link

http://www.gazette.com/sections/slideshow/?id=14898170

[LtCmdLeia]

I'm in Colorado Springs, and it really is a nightmare here.

Here's a picture from about 3 hours ago, posted on the news FB site by someone on FB. Several dozen houses up that way have burned in the past hour or so.

[williaty]

I'm in Colorado Springs, and it really is a nightmare here.

Here's a picture from about 3 hours ago, posted on the news FB site by someone on FB. Several dozen houses up that way have burned in the past hour or so.

That's not a friendly picture. I've accidentally gotten on the wrong side of a fire line in the mountains and been chased up-slope by the fire in my car. Not something I ever want to repeat.

Do you have a map? I'm trying to figure out where the fire is and which way it's moving compared to where my friend lives. She's not answering her phone which could be as minor as she's just on duty at work.

[Blacksmith]

They are starting to evacuate Air Force Academy Housing areas. This is really, really sucking.

7:25 p.m.

Officials are asking people to stay off cell phones unless it's an emergency as lines are clogged. Stay off the roads in the areas being evacuated. Road closures, evacuation sites and orders are at gazette.com/traffic.

A news conference has been set for 8:30 p.m.

7:15 p.m.

Traffic on Rockrimmon Boulevard is at a standstill, all four lanes carrying eastbound traffic of people trying to evacuate. Reporter Bill Vogrin, who lives in the neighborhood, reported hot embers landing on his roof as he left his home.


7:10 p.m.
Closing southbound Interstate 25 at Interquest Parkway to accommodate evacuation of Pine Valley neighborhood on the Air Force Academy and evacuations further south.

Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/fire-14 ... z1yxErdcQe