Colorado Springs fire

[boxer3main]

quite a horror show.

I get frustrated reading of a house getting taken...wondering why they can't just localize a platoon of water until the blaze goes by, until I saw how freakishly fast and beyond human it is to be coming at you.

A plus to this, when events get this big, federal steps in. We all step in.

[Deaf Bob]

I've been around grass fires and slash burns.. They move fast and hot under control..
To try to imagine uncontrolled is not possible...
There was one a few years ago that was visable from the farm.. Maybe 20 miles away by road, 10-15 as the crow flies...
Drove up to look after it was out.. Really small area... Those in Colorado are massive.. Scary..
Hope it is out soon!

[SuperBuickGuy]

quite a horror show.

I get frustrated reading of a house getting taken...wondering why they can't just localize a platoon of water until the blaze goes by, until I saw how freakishly fast and beyond human it is to be coming at you.

A plus to this, when events get this big, federal steps in. We all step in.

I worked for the forest service fighting (okay, we were supposed to fight fires, but none happened) fires. You can't put enough water on the fire to prevent it from burning. Water puts out the fire by 1) depriving it of oxygen, 2) cooling the air to reduce the flash point, and 3) prevents reignition by cooling the temperature of the fuel to below its flash point. In a big fire, water simple evaporates before it it gets close enough to put the fire out - and doesn't reduce the flash point enough to slow or stop the fire.

Now that said, they do have gels that adhere water to the house to keep it from combusting, but those only work in specific situations - and I suspect the fires in Colorado are outside that situation.

They need cooler temperatures, 100+ degree temps would make that fire nearly impossible to stop.

Oh yes, and some people have put sprinkles on their house, turned them on and came back to the sprinkles spraying water over the ashes of their house.... nice idea, but not enough - most fires are hot enough to melt glass

[BOOOGHAR]

bamfster was/is north of the fire

[CTX-SLPR]

There is a fire up in the Boulder area but nothing threatening Denver proper. This is very much a C-Springs and West fie for now though if the winds get crazy again it can travel north in a hurry.

[Bamfster]

we here in colorado are just asking for prayers for those that have lost everything, those that have been evacuated and those that are fighting all of the fires in our state.

Linda

amen !!!!

[Bamfster]

bamfster was/is north of the fire

We are pretty safe here where we live from any of these (thank God) ..... Thankfully we dropped out of the 100* temps today and the humidity is up in the 20% range .....

And allow me to rant for a minute ....

I have lived here my whole life. Back in the 70s/80s, lumber companies and such were shut out by the environmentalists from the majority of logging and culling the timber. The experts predicted the dreaded pine beetle, and low and behold, they struck. The forests are filled with dead timber, and now we have these fires ..... Thanks guys, thanks for knowing whats best for the forest ....

[OldMachinist]

The article Deaf Bob posted didn't mention a few of the other things pertaining to the extreme fire problems here in Colo.
We have had an infestation of bark beetles which has caused an enormous number of dead trees and the forest service hasn't allowed much logging for many years so there is plenty of highly combustible fuel for fires to feed on. And of course there is a lot of wilderness area here where no mechanized equipment can go so no fire trucks or bulldozers allowed to cut firebreaks. Thanks extreme enviros you have caused more destruction because of this policy.

[Deaf Bob]

I thought it was incomplete myself..
I come from a logging/sawmill background, and know well those damn tree huggers..
Practically overnight many sawmills and gyppo outfits went under from 2 simple words. SPOTTED OWL. After studies were done.. It was NOT as endangered as the DOOMSAYERS were claiming... Did the companies and economy recover? NOPE
Now those fires.
Wolves reintroduction... Is another. Just stupid city dwellers telling those of us how to live our lives that have to put up with their idiocy..
I hope all works out well.. Kinda late for many families... 75 homes?

[oletrux4evr]

I thought it was incomplete myself..
I come from a logging/sawmill background, and know well those damn tree huggers..
Practically overnight many sawmills and gyppo outfits went under from 2 simple words. SPOTTED OWL. After studies were done.. It was NOT as endangered as the DOOMSAYERS were claiming... Did the companies and economy recover? NOPE
Now those fires.
Wolves reintroduction... Is another. Just stupid city dwellers telling those of us how to live our lives that have to put up with their idiocy..
I hope all works out well.. Kinda late for many families... 75 homes?

Same thing in Montana.....they stopped the spraying several years ago, consequently the western half of the state is a tinderbox. Bugs and tree huggers win......