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I've never been this close to a wildfire ...

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Matt Stephens, Jun 9, 2012.

  1. Matt Stephens

    Matt Stephens Well-Known Member

    Bubbler- Yes, Colorado A&M was the "Aggies."

    Just an update:

    Fire reached about 8,000 acres this morning, still no containment and is officially 15 miles from town. I usually sleep with my windows open, but woke up this morning feeling like I was breathing smoke. Foothills are incredibly hazy. If I were a mile further east, it would look like there were not mountains at all to the west. All roads west of the main street I live on have been closed to prevent people (like myself) to drive up to the top of the lake for a closer view.

    I have gotten some cool photos, though.

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    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  2. amraeder

    amraeder Well-Known Member

    I lived in Fairbanks, AK, for two years. I still remember the smell of stepping off the plane my first day there and smelling the burning pine of the wildfire that encircled the town. Never threatened the town, but, man, that was an experience. Good luck to you!
     
  3. Matt Stephens

    Matt Stephens Well-Known Member

    Scary stuff. Containment still at zero percent with no plan. Blaze is now going at more than 14,000 acres. Winds have also died down a bit from yesterday, which you'd think is a good thing, they were keeping it growing in a single direction. Now it's spreading everywhere.

    Mizzou- nearby towns of LaPorte and Bellvue are being threatened the worst right now. I went down to Aurora (SE Denver) today and could see the smoke.

    SoCal- I totally agree. I really need to refill my inhaler. I actually plan on doing a story tomorrow about how this is going to affect high school football practices (second of the two-week mini camps starts Monday), or if they'll even have them at all?
     
  4. MileHigh

    MileHigh Moderator Staff Member

    Matt, looks like you're close to where my sister lives in the Fort. They're out of town, but we had someone check on their place near Prospect and Taft. Lots of haze down south today.

    I grew up in SoCal and wildfires were prevalent, especially Panorama in 1980. Not fun.

    It cooled down today, but it's supposed to warm up by midweek. The lack of snow in March and the super-dry spring is catching up, and the talk has been the conditions are like 2002, when half the state burned, including the Hayman fire.
     
  5. SoCalScribe

    SoCalScribe Member

    Matt, I once got seriously ill from a wildfire (the kind where it was "snowing" ash on communities in all directions for a couple weeks). I though I could get through it on my own as usual, so didn't see a doctor for weeks then one night, my airway started closing off and I was struggling to breathe so had to go to the ER. Wish I had handled it earlier to save the time money and inconvenience.
     
  6. MileHigh

    MileHigh Moderator Staff Member

    Doubled overnight, now up to 37,000 acres.
     
  7. Bob Cook

    Bob Cook Active Member

    Michigan just gave the go-ahead for people to return to the area in the Eastern Upper Peninsula affected by the Duck Lake Fire, which burned 21,000 acres. Very few lived in the area that burned, though three state campgrounds got charred up. Interesting story about the regeneration of the area. Apparently it'll come back to life fairly quickly, and for at least one species of tree, the occasional fire is actually a necessity:

    http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/06/did_duck_lake_fire_kill_much_w.html
     
  8. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    It's interesting that in all of the national coverage of this, they never make mention of any of the cities... It's always just "Larimer County". It makes me wonder if they're intentionally doing this because by all indications it's not that close to Loveland or Fort Collins or at least the two biggest cities in the county have not been evacuated.
     
  9. Sam Mills 51

    Sam Mills 51 Well-Known Member

    Because Larimer County is more than just Fort Collins and Loveland.

    The Fort has a population of about 110,000. Larimer County has about 270,000.

    "Larimer County" is much more accurate ... it's a lot more than Fort Collins.
     
  10. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    I see Matt's video feed isn't working. I hope that's not a bad sign. (From what I can tell, the fire hasn't moved into city limits yet.)
     
  11. Matt Stephens

    Matt Stephens Well-Known Member

    Took that down late that night. I should take down the link above. I setup a dashboard cam this afternoon and drove around the lake. Got some pretty cool shots. Finally saw flames. This morning it finally reached the side of the mountains around Horsetooth Reservoir that faces town. I'd estimate five miles or less. Granted, there's still a lake between it and Fort Collins, but it's close. I'll have more pictures up soon.
     
  12. Matt Stephens

    Matt Stephens Well-Known Member

    Definitely getting my inhaler refilled. I have asthma, but haven't had issue or needed an inhaler in years. SoCal is right. Gotta be safe.

    Here's a panoramic I took today that I was pretty proud of:

    [​IMG]

    While I was up at the lake taking the shot, apparently I was on Denver TV as well. A friend in Arkansas sent this to me while she was watching online. It gave me a good chuckle:

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
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