Prayers for our Colorado and New Mexico members

[jwhughes3]

Man the news footage from Albuquerque and Colorado is really scary.

Hope everyone comes out allright and they get a handle on this soon, or some rain!

John

[BA80]

There are big fires in Montana too John.

[jwhughes3]

Im sure I missed some

But When I saw how close these were to ABQ , not like last year going to Durango there was some far off smoke on the horizon, and the ones in Colorado even are making the AF Academy evacuate I was like "woah this is getting really bad". I saw some footage up near Ft Collins too, but dunno how close to town it is...


Im praying for rain.

John

[Jerry]

We can see the smoke from the latest fire from our place. (Western Colorado.) Its being called the Pine Ridge fire. Most of the major fires have been on the eastern side of the state, sometimes called the Front Range or Eastern Slope.

A guy I work with has a daughter who lives near Colorado Springs and has been evacuated. One of the fires there, near the Air Force Academy, moved 3 miles in 5 minutes, propelled by 65mph winds. 1 death confirmed, may be others...hard to get in and check!

I have not heard directly fro any eastern slope XSives, but Denver area has been spared so far.

All government entities have been expecting / dreading this after the mild winter and low volume of snow. The hidden cost is a loss of tourism; rafting companies and back-country guides are loosing business left and right. Even outdoor shooting ranges have been closing for fear that sparks from bullets could set off a fire.

While I hate to say it, if we have to be evacuated (not likely!) the priorities are pets, papers, a few sentimental objects, the CPU, and what ever else may fit in our 2 cars and small trailer. The XJ and my other toys would be parked in the middle of an open lot with sprinkler systems turned on over them and hope for the best. This depends on how much time we would have to get out. A single friend has an available basement that we could use as a temporary base, but it is 60 miles away and the possibility that we could take more than an initial load of the most important items is very small.

Such is life in the west. We went through a similar situation while in Prescott, Arizona. Mandatory evacuation (I stayed, wife, daughter, and pets were in a hotel) and the fire burned to within about a 5 minute walk of our place.

Other parts of the country have floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, or earthquakes. Fire danger is just a fact of life if you choose to live anywhere in the Rockies.

We are also looking for rain, but only 1 day has a 20% chance of rain out of the next 8, so it is going to be hot and dry for a long time.

[Special Ed]

Thanks for your report Jerry:

I was worried about you. I wake up in the morning and turn on a news/talk station before I get out of bed (not a good practice for mental health, some would argue,) and heard about the fire on the outskirts of Colorado Springs. When I got up I went to my computer to see the images. Hell on earth! So sad. It has been only a matter of time before one of these "wild fires" would attack a major metropolitan center. I'm afraid the time has come. I'm glad you are safe, Jerry, and my heart goes out to our brothers and sisters who are not.
Special Ed

[Jerry]

Special ed:

Thanks for the thoughts and wishes. Fire is now 35% contained but due to back burns and a change in wind direction the town of DeBeque is out of danger for now.

As you know I work for a Sheriff's Office, and we get some of the behind-the-scenes talk from other offices. My heart really goes out to the Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado Springs. That fire moved 3 miles in 5 minutes, driven by high winds. Those people never had a chance to get anything out and lost all. 2 people killed.

The main difference between fires and other natural disasters is that fire events tend to last longer...weeks instead of days. Our fire, the Pine Ridge Fire, started a week ago. Same with most of the major fires on the eastern side of the state. Not until the fire is out can other repairs (power, water, communications) even get started. When your power lines burn you just can't patch and splice them; new wires have to be installed, which takes longer.

A good web site to track fires occurring all over the US is www.inciweb.org. Not only fires, I guess, but any type of natural disaster. You can sort by name or state.

Thanks again for the thoughts. Stay away from talk radio, though, that stuff will make you crazy. Of course, "..if we weren't all crazy we would all go insane." (Jimmy Buffet, Changes in attitudes, Changes in latitudes)

[motoman]

Good to hear you didn't have to bail, turning sprinklers on the scoots Jerry.........steamed baked XJ and Concours just don't sound apetizing...........

[Special Ed]

Just sayin'

Hey Jerry,
I went there, and it is a very cool site. Funny, I think, that after 3 pages of wild fire “incidents," appears an entry for “The Rainbow Family Gathering,” Now there is a disaster!
Special Ed

[Jerry]

Thanks guys. I forgot to mention that I have a few photos of the smoke plumes taken from I-70 and DeBeque interchange and from my back deck on my web page at http://www.appleattic.net/blog. The interchange is just under a mile from my place.