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[KristyW]

Ok. I'm sure that most of you know of the wildfires we're having here in Colorado. I'm in the Denver Metro area, and in no danger, but I know there are others here who are in harms way:

Christina?
Herb?
Anyone else?

I can't even begin to tell you what it is like here Coming north from Pueblo on Sunday, you could see that the fire in Colorado Springs had the potential to be really bad. It is near a very tourist friendly area just west of Colorado Springs in a canyon that can act just like a chimney. Last night, the winds picked up to 65 miles an hour with swirling gusts...there's just no way to fight a fire like that. The earlier fire west of Ft. Collins has burned more acreage, but the Colorado Springs fire is much closer to denser population.

There's another fire that popped up just barely west of Boulder yesterday. This fire is even closer to well populated areas. I haven't heard much about it this morning because of the way the Colorado Springs fire blew up yesterday.

We have had 6 days of triple digits with less than 20% relative humidity. Today is supposed to be ONLY 93. We had dry thunderstorms move through here last night. They brought high winds and lightening.

All 3 of these fires are in what we here would call the foothills. This is an area just in front of the "mountains". The elevation in these areas is about 7000-9000 feet.

There are at least 15 different wildfires burning in our fair state. These 3 are along the front range.

Please send your thoughts and prayers out for all who are in harm's way from these fires.

 

[Duffey]

Thanks for checking in, Kristy.

I have a niece who lives in Colorado Springs. Her house is ok, but her place of employment is in the area that was evacuated.

My sister-in-law's brother's family has evacuated their home in Fort Collins. They're staying in their RV to the north of the fires.

It is a terrible thing that is happening in Colorado right now, and my prayers and thoughts are with everyone in harm's way.

 

[KristyW]

Thanks Duffey..it's tough right now. I have loved ones in both, Ft. Collins and Colorado Springs.

 

[escargome]

Sending prayers for everyone in Colorado. This Cali girl has seen and been part of evacuations for fire and it just breaks my heart to think of the devastation these blazers can bring. I have the entire state in my thoughts.

 

[njean]

Prayers going out to all of you near these devastating fires! Part of our forests are still burning too....such a tragedy!

Stay safe!

 

[Guest]

Dennis Smith's daughter and family live in Colorado Springs, he bought a house there last year to live closer to them, he moved from Yimenez, NM. I have friends living in Colorado Springs, they were evacuated last night, she said she did not know if her house survived. I called her on her home phone this am, she has an old fashioned voice mail system and it picked up. I called it on my way home from work and it picked up again. I texted her and have not heard back, she's battling cancer right now too. So awful to have all of CO go through this. I wonder if some of the fires were not deliberately set.

 

[Guest]

I sent Dennis an email to check in.

 

[Dennis S]

We are all good, and no reasonable concern for our homes. Actually, as I post this I am on an iPhone in the Great Sand Dunes National Park, over 100 miles from Colorado Springs. We have the grand kids, and our daughter headed back to Denver early this morning to give a lecture on some treaty to a bunch of lawyers. Hopefully I am getting some beautiful pictures. This morning I guessed right and got some early morning mule deer pictures. Also we had a great adventure yesterday on a REALLY primitive road. We were able to get ourselves back home without help, which I count as a success. Will try to check in later.

 

[Dennis S]

BTW, we still own the house in Jemez Springs, and a small fire started on our neighbors property a few weeks ago. We had done a lot of work to diminish fire danger on our acreage, and because the fire was small, it stopped right at our property line. This is going to be a tough summer in the South-West.

 

[Marguerite53]

I thought of you almost immediately, Dennis. I am so glad to hear that you and yours are alright. Such a scary situation.
Best wishes!! STAY SAFE!
Marguerite

 

[middleman]

To all those in Colorado my heart and prays goes out to. I have felt their pain before.

If you want to keep track of the fire here are two web site to look at.

The first is the USFS site for the Colorado Spring fire:
http://www.inciweb.org/incident/2929/

The second is a site that reports on wildland fires through out the country. This page is for the Colorado area.
http://wlfhotlist.com/forums/32-IA-Rocky-Mountain

Jim

 

[Lionheart]

We're doing OK in Ft Collins, but there were several days of smokey haze. It looks like they just about have the High Park fire west of us under control. Several friends had to evacuate their canyon homes for the past several weeks and luckily their home survived, but others were not so lucky. The count is now 259 homes destroyed in that fire. The Waldo fire west of C. Springs is only 15% contained today and has burned 347 home and more are threatened until it is in control. So far there is one know fatality at each fire. Other fires are burning in the state, but life goes on. We are currently in a drought so things will only get hotter and drier and additional uncontrolled fires are likely. The amazing thing is how people pull together and their differences fade away when a tragedy like this hits. Lots of people in town and along highways holding up or posting signs that say "Thank you fire crews"
Best
John