• landscape

    High Park Fire Update

    June 23, 2012
    Smoke form the High Park Fire over Fort Collins
    Smoke along the Colorado Front Range

    Forgive me for posting more images of the High Park Fire but I wanted to share with you the size and damage this fire is causing. I’ve been following the status of the High Park fire from a couple of sources but the Incident Information System website has given some very good information. At the present time there 191 confirmed homes lost due to the fires. As of yesterday the fire got out of hands so they issued more evacuations. This was caused as the temperature reached into the high 90s and afternoon winds picked up. I find it strange that the each day the official updates show the fire increasing in size while they claim some percentage of containment. What’re they containing? We are talking about mans attempt to control nature.

    Here are two images from yesterday. The first one is on a high ridge about one mile above my condo and taken around 6:00 pm while the temperature in my car said 96 degrees. The second one was taken this morning about ten miles from my condo while I waited for my cars 15k mile service. You can see the smoke as it settles along the foothills so that Fort Collins to the left and Loveland to the right can’t be seen. We need rain but nothing but hot, dry weather is forecasted.

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  • clouds,  landscape,  mountains

    We Need the Rain

    June 15, 2012
    High Park Fire

    I apologize for the quality of this image but I want to post it anyway. It is my attempt at showing the size of this fire. I am probably 20-25 miles from the High Park Fire that has been burning since last Saturday morning. It is located just west of Fort Collins along the foothills. Here is a bit of information about the fire. The fire is burning and has burned all the area from about an inch on either side of this image. Here is a link to some better images.

    The fire has now burned 52,000 acres. They are using nine helicopters and fixed-winged aircraft and over 1,300 fire fighters along with the help of the National Guard. Over 100 structures have burned – 48 of those being hones. In the above image you can see rain clouds on the left. However, this thunder cell created downdrafts, not rain, which stirred up embers that jumped the Poudre River at Stevens Gulch and is heading towards the Glacier View Meadows Neighborhood. Not good. We so need the rain!

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