Burning Colorado

denverpilot

denverpilot

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Another fire today in Elbert County about 5 miles East of Kelly Airpark (CO15).

Had to share this photo from yesterday. Nice shot.

Courtesy of Steve Nelson in the Colorado Aviation Photography group on Facebook from the shore of Lake Estes in Estes Park, CO.

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And Tanker 45 after a drop on the Waldo Canyon fire returning to KPUB courtesy Jim Cooley, same group.

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denverpilot said:
Another fire today in Elbert County about 5 miles East of Kelly Airpark (CO15).

Had to share this photo from yesterday. Nice shot.
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I saw the demo of the water dumping capabilities of the Air-Crane in Oshkosh a few years back. Pretty impressive machine.
 
denverpilot said:
Another fire today in Elbert County about 5 miles East of Kelly Airpark (CO15).
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Saw the smoke from that fire from the airplane today while being vectored for 35R. Also saw it driving home. It's south an east of my house but pretty far away.
 
On my way to Santa Fe a few days back I flew over Durango. Huge fire to the NE of Durango. The whole valley between two ranges was ablaze with a TFR around it all.
 
We were heading from La Junta back to Denver this morning and heard Tanker 45 talking to Springs Approach. We could see the fire pretty well from about 15nm east of Colorado Springs.

The air quality in Colorado is pretty bad right now. We probably only had 25 miles of vis :D.
 
Got a phone call from my folks a couple hours ago. They are in Woodland Park, CO and are getting their "go" gear ready in case they have to evacuate. It's a interesting thing to think about. You have one car, maybe two, and whatever will fit inside. What do you save?
 
Matthew said:
Got a phone call from my folks a couple hours ago. They are in Woodland Park, CO and are getting their "go" gear ready in case they have to evacuate. It's a interesting thing to think about. You have one car, maybe two, and whatever will fit inside. What do you save?
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The airplane.
 
Matthew said:
Got a phone call from my folks a couple hours ago. They are in Woodland Park, CO and are getting their "go" gear ready in case they have to evacuate. It's a interesting thing to think about. You have one car, maybe two, and whatever will fit inside. What do you save?
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Only that which insurance will not replace. Mostly stuff with sentimental value (photo albums, china cups that belonged to my grandmother, etc). Everything else stays behind.
 
Not enough defensible space. Everyone wants to live in the pine trees. Everyone screams bloody murder when their place burns for lack of defensible space.

I should be in Colorado this week doing fires. It's that time of year.
 
We got overcast and very little precip tonight and higher humidities. A small help from Mother Nature.

I spent the weekend as a Communications Unit Leader and my laptop hard drive is awash in ICS forms and radio logs. Tired.

Agency served seemed happy with the results. Multiple new fires broke out today. Spotted early, they were jumped on. Still, stuff is so dry the goal is determining direction and speed to get evac orders out quickly.

I hear the Air Guard joins the fight tomorrow. Politics of laws set up to protect the commercial tanker businesses back when there were 40+ airworthy tankers got busted up finally, and the Guard can break out the C-130s. Or so I hear.

It's downright nutty out here right now. Hayman all over again but more of them. Most of the fires are fairly isolated so far, not big winds (yet).

I think I'll go to work tomorrow to get a break. :)

Fly safe if you're up, Doug.
 
Matthew said:
Got a phone call from my folks a couple hours ago. They are in Woodland Park, CO and are getting their "go" gear ready in case they have to evacuate. It's a interesting thing to think about. You have one car, maybe two, and whatever will fit inside. What do you save?
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People, pets, a couple changes of clothes and the important papers. With that load up a bunch of water and haul ass.
 
I hear the Air Guard joins the fight tomorrow. Politics of laws set up to protect the commercial tanker businesses back when there were 40+ airworthy tankers got busted up finally, and the Guard can break out the C-130s. Or so I hear.
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No politics, but the MAFFS operations are not priority missions for the USAFANG/USAFR/USAF. There are only three squadrons tasked with the mission, and they're part-time, limited use, with other missions taking priority. MAFFS has a number of limitations, too.

Fly safe if you're up, Doug.
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I'm a little late this year; just getting started. I've been getting spun up this week, and have been out of the loop for several years on the fires. I spent the week doing a lot of training, canyon work, simulated drops, landings, water drops, terrain emergencies, etc. Just broke out the nomex today...it's in the washing machine as I type. I should be on fires the first of this next week...good to be back.

There's nothing better than the smell of smoke in the cockpit.

I saw the demo of the water dumping capabilities of the Air-Crane in Oshkosh a few years back. Pretty impressive machine.
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The skycranes are some of the most awesome pieces of machinery over the fire, bar none. Standing on a hilltop, watching one crest the hill and drop, seeing that big rotor, gives me chills. It always has. They're expensive, but they can work the living **** out of a fire.
 
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Your life isn't worth anything in the house... get mementos, and get out...

Looking at more photos in the Colorado Aviation Photographers page today, it looks like Canadian tankers have also arrived...

https://www.facebook.com/groups/coloradoaviationphotography/

I didn't have time to grab the link yesterday when I was posting since I was handling radio traffic all weekend, etc... was just a quickie after things slowed down last night before bed.

Final paperwork from me is now turned into the Incident Commander after one of our folks in the Comm group had a family emergency and had to rush to a hospital... paperwork can wait when that happens.

It has been a looooong weekend. Heck of a lot more useful/fun than working on the lawn, I'll give it that!
 
Interesting thing with the Canadians: we never had a problem with them working this side of the border, but they wouldn't let us land on that side. We could drop, but not land.
 
DouglasBader said:
Interesting thing with the Canadians: we never had a problem with them working this side of the border, but they wouldn't let us land on that side. We could drop, but not land.
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Interesting. Didn't know that one. Kinda doesn't surprise me though. Working with various Canadian telecom companies is something of a trip into the Twilight Zone.

It's almost difficult to describe because it's deeply rooted in cultural differences. Their response to broken systems and how they manage "prOHjects" is different than U.S. Telecom and IT.
 
Matthew said:
Got a phone call from my folks a couple hours ago. They are in Woodland Park, CO and are getting their "go" gear ready in case they have to evacuate. It's a interesting thing to think about. You have one car, maybe two, and whatever will fit inside. What do you save?
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Pictures, backup hard drives, insurance papers, guns, my sewing machines. Some clothing, toiletries. If there is time, hook up the trailers and haul the vintage motorcycles. Everything of value in the house has been photographed and documented (receipt, serial #'s, etc), so, hopefully, there won't be any issues when it comes time to deal with the insurance company. I really do need to finish up with the stuff in the garage.

Been there, done that three times. Got caught once away from the house. Got to see the house in flames on ABC news. :( It was a fast moving fire in sage brush in the hills of SoCal. Roommates told me the FD gave them 5 minutes to get out. They didn't have time to get anything.

Twice after that we were getting ready to pack up (SoCal again), and once about 7 years ago up here in WA.

Wildfires are scary, scary things. Watching the fire jump 300 yds at a time, little spot of red, growing outward in a circle and the line behind it catching up as the wind blows it forward. i never knew that pine trees exploded. But it was kinda cool, in a way. With the river below the house, there were four helo's using our house as the point to turn downwind (and they were pretty much at eye level). A very nice ballet in the sky. We watched one hover over a house across the river, pilot got the bucket moving in a circle, then he dumped the water, it made a perfect ring of water cascading around the house. Fire stayed on the north side of the river, but we had a pile of stuff in the living room, ready to load in the truck, should the wind shift and things turned ugly. Fisher Fire burned for almost three weeks, lost only one house. Yay, firedudes!!!!!

I do hope that our vigilance in keeping a defensible area around the house helps when the time comes. Living where we do, it's not a matter of if, but when.

Note to fireguys and gals. I don't really care if the house burns to the ground. SAVE THE GARAGE!!!! :rofl::rofl:
 
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Wildfires are scary, scary things. Watching the fire jump 300 yds at a time, little spot of red, growing outward in a circle and the line behind it catching up as the wind blows it forward. i never knew that pine trees exploded. But it was kinda cool, in a way.
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It's very cool, in a way, so long as you're not too close. Pine trees explode. They also go up in the air and burn; in some cases, much of the tree ends up up there, flying around, burning. They fall down and roll downhill. Rabbits and deer run burning ahead of the fire and set more fires. Fire whirls, like tornados made of fire, spin out of the fire or through it. Fires set up their own weather, building tall convective activity that puts out winds that move the fire, and puts out lightening that causes more fires. Fires move with the wind, sometimes cup to 60 mph; far too fast to outrun. Sometimes fires go out then relight; we call that reburn potential.

On the first day of some extensive large fires in Region 5 (California) a few years, ago, seven air tankers had broken windscreens from flying debris.

Note to fireguys and gals. I don't really care if the house burns to the ground. SAVE THE GARAGE!!!!
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About 14 years ago, working a fire in Muscle Shell, MT, fires were everywhere, and burning through the town. I'm not sure the town is even on the map. The air attack advised us to locate targets on our own and start working them. We found a house with flame burning an outbuilding, and smoke coming out of the eves of the garage. I set up for a dive on the open door of the garage, and intended to salvo all 2000 gallons into the garage in the hopes of saving the structure. My thumb was on the button, and as I was tensing to press for the drop, a man ran out of the garage with a bucket in his hand. Apparently they hadn't evacuated, and were trying to fight the fire with buckets and a garden hose. We advised the air attack, who called law enforcement, and we saw the flashing lights coming down the road.

A few minutes later we were advised that the target was clear, and I set up for another run. Same thing; someone popped out of the house at the last moment, I safed the systems, and went around. We didn't have time to waste on them; we went to another house and dropped on that. I have no idea what ever happened to the home with the people who refused to leave. We couldn't help them as long as they stayed. It probably burned down.
 
The only time I had to evacuate was for a fire was when it was in the next unit of apartment buildings, not a wildfire. The first thing I did was get my camera to take a picture from the balcony where you could really feel the heat. OK, maybe not so smart. I think the only thing I took was the camera and the dog. These days I would take the laptop computer which has lots of information which would be useful. I'm not really that into "stuff" and it's insured (although it wasn't at the time because I had no renter's insurance). Luckily the fire didn't spread to our building.
 
The Canadians (ConAir http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conair_Group) letter of approval went into effect June 11, 2012 http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/aviation/cooperators/2012_conair_cooperator_approval.pdf
and I believe they've been flying at least two Convair 580s from BJC since almost that date.

I heard a blurb about C-130s being authorized, but didn't catch if it was WY or CO ANG, or other (AF, AFR, ?) - a friend of mine is C-130 Flight Engineer out of the Springs - I'll ping him to see what he's heard.

Have another acquaintance who's with WY ANG - he said both WY and CO ANG are tasked, loaded and ready to fly today.

http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123307242
 
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Just talked with the folks in Woodland Park a couple minutes ago. With the highway into Co Springs closed, things are getting a little strange. No mail, no gas, no groceries - it's basically a commuter town and no one has any way to commute. When the wind shifts they are getting ash falling on them. Now, one or more arsonists have decided to start a half-dozen or so fires around town, one pretty close to their house - the fires have been caught before they got out of control.

Strange days.
 
Denver tied the all-time high temperature only recorded twice before here. 105F. We were three degrees cooler than Phoenix.

A fire started on the plains and went from zero to 38,000 acres in wind after a tire came off a car and sparks lit the brush alongside the road on fire, five miles south of Last Chance, CO.

So it's not just the dead beetle-kill trees. We're just hot and dry. Everything is ready to burn.

My living room is 86F right now, at 22:10 Local. Unbelievable for Denver. It hasn't been this hot here since before I was born.
 
The Waldo fire just west of Colorado Springs is shutting down Manitou Springs, total evacuation. Driving back to Denver this evening the smoke plume was unbelievable but I didn't have a camera with me. Folks said the night time view is both magnificent and horrible, knowing how much is burning up there.
 
murphey said:
The Waldo fire just west of Colorado Springs is shutting down Manitou Springs, total evacuation. Driving back to Denver this evening the smoke plume was unbelievable but I didn't have a camera with me. Folks said the night time view is both magnificent and horrible, knowing how much is burning up there.
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My folks got some pictures of that plume yesterday, from Woodland Park - they were really talking about it. They said last night that at least some parts of Manitou were letting residents back in.
 
Today was blazing hot, but this just started...

Cooled it off, but if these winds hit any of the fires, they're going to jump fire lines and run.

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The folks have the car packed and one foot out the door. The fire is one ridge away - roughly 2 miles. Since the only direction they can go is west, they'll head to Breckenridge if they have to leave. Talked to them about an hour ago, they said something about homeowners insurance wouldn't cover loss to the house if they left before a mandatory evac, but I didn't ask too much about the details of that. I think a lot of people are leaving their extra cars in the middle of parking lots, figuring the fire won't get them that way. Anyone familiar with Woodland Park will know where the high school is, the fire is on the opposite side of the ridge behind the HS.

Dad spent the afternoon, when he could stand the smoke long enough, to sit outside and watch the bombers make their runs.
 
I'll have photos up close and personal when I get home this evening. The smoke plume from the COS fire has completely blanketed north side of the Springs, and it can be seen from Denver.
 
We got a lot of gusty wind and a few drops of rain. Then the sky started to look pretty dark. On further examination I think it's smoke, not clouds. At least it dropped the temperature pretty quick since it's blocking the sun.

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I think all the stuff on the radar northeast of Colorado Springs is smoke.
 
murphey said:
I'll have photos up close and personal when I get home this evening. The smoke plume from the COS fire has completely blanketed north side of the Springs, and it can be seen from Denver.
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Dad was talking about that plume, both yesterday and today.
 
Matthew, I have a friend in Woodland Park that is a city commissioner (or whatever they call them) and I haven't been able to get a hold of him. I have been following your posts. His name is Dave Turley.
 
My uncle is in COS, bags packed and ready to go. Fire is 3 miles from his house.
 
They just evacuated my uncle
 
It got a lot worse today.

I'm caught between wanting to discuss with y'all as friends and being a whole lot tired and not remembering what info I have heard via various Comm channels (mine and friends working their butts off too) that's not released info.

Or more accurately, I don't even know what's released and what's not anymore.

I'll let the media steal it from their scanners. I'm sure it's all out there.

I was on the phone for three hours straight this evening, not counting a call log that's a page long today...

... while I was doing my day job.

The morning started with a phone call from someone I know who said, "I'm calling you in an official fashion, which is the first time I've ever had to do that in all these years we've worked on radios together... I'm sitting at the Comm desk at X and I need you to pass a message up your chain of command for me... we've got a bad phone number."

Yup. Can do. Give me yours. And your message. Let me grab a pen. Damn. I hate when the Comm breaks because of bad info.

Took an hour and multiple calls to get myself completely extricated from the Comm loop after a couple of runs to the basement to answer radio calls and point folks up the ICS tree.

I needed a sign with a big arrow...

"Incident Commander -----> Over there. Talk to him."

I also had a mysterious loss of an entire repeater site and multiple unrelated repeaters that were being used for shelter/evac site Comm around sunset. They came back on-air as I was climbing into the Yukon to head up to the radio site above Conifer, CO to see what the HELL took a generator-backed site off the air. Hoping I wouldn't need any forest fire dodging skills if something new broke out while I was up there.

Best guess right now is a loss of one AC power phase which didn't allow the generator to kick off, and someone else drove up there and manually kicked the genset on. Grrrrr. Not my genset. We are secondary on it.

I will share also that there is one supposedly Commercial Public Safety quality radio manufacturer who can take their cheap crap and shove it into whichever body orifice that they choose.

If it doesn't say Motorola, Bendix King, or M/A-Com on it, never ever trust your life to it.

And... whoever chose to flip the Statewide designations of two frequencies off of the National interop standard set in the NIFOG and reverse their designated names, deserves significant groin pain.

Ha.

Busy and tired. Glad to be helping out where I can.

While I'm only kidding about the life part, I'm reminded of one of my favorite movie lines from Hunt for Fed October where Admiral Josh Painter's character says...

"This business will get out of control! It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it!"
 
32,000 Evacuated As Waldo Canyon Fire Explodes

Authorities say 32,000 people have been evacuated in Colorado Springs as the wind-driven Waldo Canyon Fire exploded Tuesday into several neighborhoods.

Read more: http://kmgh.m0bl.net/r/12wwkl

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Mandatory Evacuations Issued For Boulder Wildfire

A lightning-sparked wildfire has prompted mandatory evacuations in Boulder County and more than 2,400 pre-evacuation notices in the city of Boulder.

Read more: http://kmgh.m0bl.net/r/12yb4h

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List of the fires...

http://www.9news.com/rss/article.aspx?storyid=274324

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My great-cousin used to be a Fire Captain in Estes many moons ago. He said friends lost their homes...

http://www.9news.com/rss/article.aspx?storyid=274483

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And today again tied the all time record in all recorded history for Denver temperatures, hitting 105F once again for a total of four days that hot, ever.

Aug 8, 1875
Jul 20, 2005
Jun 25-26 2012

Luckily, it's finally going to slowly back down. Unluckily, it will probably settle back into afternoon thunderstorms and lighting, which will light more fires.

http://www.9news.com/rss/article.aspx?storyid=274342

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The good news story was the fire on the plains that's 95% contained near Last Chance, CO.

Rumor has it that farmers in the area walked into the emergency center and said they had a plan to cut a fire line with tractors in front of the thing the day it started. Emergency Management personnel said they couldn't put their lives in danger. Farmers walked out saying they'd go do it anyway and did. Plowed their fields under to stop it. Now they're wondering what their cattle will eat all summer...

http://www.denverpost.com/recommended/ci_20945923
 
flightmedic said:
Matthew, I have a friend in Woodland Park that is a city commissioner (or whatever they call them) and I haven't been able to get a hold of him. I have been following your posts. His name is Dave Turley.
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My folks might know him, but I don't. If he works for the city, I'm sure he's busy. They have been trying to put in fire lines, and probably are clearing fire lines from the last fire they had up there. There's a lot of logistics involved in preparing to evacuate a town.

News this morning is the west side of the Springs is on fire, the AFA has been evac'd.

Didn't hear from my folks during the night, so they might still be home.

Dad was on the deck a couple days ago, watching the smoke way off in the distance. Then a pine needle landed in his glass of water. But it wasn't a normal pine needle, it was a needle that had been turned to charcoal. At that time, the sky was clear so this little piece of the fire had been carried an unknown number of miles. It was just a little thing, but really makes you think.

Gas tankers have managed to make it from Denver on the back roads, some unpaved, to refill the stations in Woodland Park. There's really only one direction to evac from there and that's west.
 
denverpilot said:
Today was blazing hot, but this just started...

Cooled it off, but if these winds hit any of the fires, they're going to jump fire lines and run.

4b94241c-4e26-460d.jpg
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They did. Jumped both fire lines on Tuesday. Not good at all. Electricity and gas on the NW side of the Springs was turned off early evening for safety, altho most people think it was to force them to evac.
 
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Given the weather,fuel,and terrain, things look grim. My father and I were discussing this yesterday. He is in his early 80s, but was a Fuels management specialist in the USFS, and on a regional major incident overhead team as the staff fire behavior officer. He knows the area, and says without a major break in the weather, getting a handle on the situation is nearly impossible. Those who have never been in the West really have no concept of the area and terrain involved.
 
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