Posted on 04/15/2008 2:38:46 PM PDT by george76
Dozens of homes have been evacuated and a 5-mile stretch of Colorado 82 in western Colorado has been closed due to heavy smoke from a brush fire.
The 100-acre brush fire is burning at 1265 County Road 100, and is threatening several homes and a school, said Tanny McGinnis, spokeswoman for the Garfield County Sheriff's Office.
She said a horse farm and a private school have been evacuated. Two buildings have been damaged and one person has been transported with injuries...
Firefighters from Carbondale, Basalt and Glenwood are at the scene.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedenverchannel.com ...
“Everything’s going up; this whole valley’s going up,” Basalt resident Michael Mooney, reported from a ridge to the south of Garfield County Road 100 at 2:45 p.m.
Upwind of the flames and well out of the danger area, Mooney was in awe of the size of the fire and said every few minutes the flames would erupt in huge orange bursts.
“This is unbelievable,” Mooney said.
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20080415/NEWS/432329738
Well, I knew it couldn’t be Carbondale, IL as wet as it’s been around here.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
High wind warnings for large parts of Colorado today. Stay safe, folks.
Witnesses said they could see the flames in the timber and juniper pinions less than 1 mile west of Catherine Store Road.
As soon as the fire jumped, firefighters from various agencies that were staged at Catherine Store Road scrambled up into the Missouri Heights area.
The wind was blowing the flames into the high ground where there are numerous rural subdivisions.
Highway 82 remains closed between El Jebel Road and Highway 133.
Children at the Waldorf School have evacuated, along with residents in the Ranch at the Roaring Fork Subdivision.
Before homeowners fled, they watered down their houses with garden hoses and filled buckets of water from the Roaring Fork River to wet down their properties.
News reporters said they were helping residents remove branches, bark and other dead wood from properties to reduce the potential fire fuel.
A dispatcher indicated that residents within a 3-mile radius of the fire’s reported point of origin have been ordered to evacuate.
Erratic winds are whipping up the flames, adding to the danger.
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/breaking-news-fire-v
There is a big front / storm due Wednesday in Colorado.
This is pushed by the winds before the front.
The warm weather and winds are the “warm before the storm.” Cool weather and moisture should move in tonight.
That’s a shame, it’s such beautiful country. You must know the area, George, will they be able to contain it or will the winds keep it going?
The warmer before the storm, the better the storm. Winter storm warnings and watches already up.
Hmmm...guess they shouldnt have built in the trees...
We may get snow tonight ?
Hey, I went to school there, 1969-1972. Wild days!
Brush’s fault!
We had snow here this morning. It stayed for an hour then politely went over the hills to the East.
The Carbondale fire was burning in mostly brush and grass, Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario said.
Garfield sheriff’s spokeswoman Tanny McGinnis told KMGH-TV that several homes and the school were threatened.
It was not immediately known how many residents live in the subdivision, called the Ranch at Roaring Fork.
Priscilla Dickinson, office manager at Waldorf School on the Roaring Fork...
A five-mile stretch of Colorado 82 was closed due to heavy smoke.
A second wildfire in the southeastern Colorado town of Ordway also forced evacuations, but a Crowley County sheriff’s dispatcher said she was too busy to give any details.
She said two other fires were burning in Garfield County...
It is a warm day today, 71F right now at 8,500 ft elevation NW of Denver. There is a winter storm warning here starting Wednesday afternoon. It looks like Carbondale has a 50% chance of snow after midnight tonight.
oops...sorry.
Is there really snow forecast tomorrow?
Here is the forcast for my location:
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=80403
This site shows a forcast for several inches in Carbondale by Wednesday morning. There could be a lot of damage by then. The wind here is very strong gusts, but sustained wind is not so bad.
What's strange is that I'm sitting here looking at the northern facing slope a quarter mile south of me....and it's still covered with snow!
That's crazy Colorado wx for ya!
I have snow drifts in my yard that must still be 3 ft deep! It will be more than that after this storm.
Mostly lots of wind.
They are forecasting rain to shower showers in different parts of the state.
The wind in Carbondale is really picking up. Look at the wind graph near the bottom of this page:
http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KCOCARBO1
We're just going to turn cold with a few inches down here on the southern end of the state.
I'm ready for Spring!
I guess they put it out just as it approached some guy's front door.
Close call....
This is still early if the wind goes nuts.
Remember Glenwood Springs a few years ago ?
We lost many young fire fighters and edges of the town. The fire jumped the Colorado River and I-70.
Yes, up north. If you click on the noaa link in post #21, I am at the NE corner of the blue shaded winter storm watch area. At this elevation we usually get snow into the month of June.
I remember the Glenwood Springs fire. That was a tragic fire. The Walker Ranch fire was just north of my house and came within a few miles of my house. I was in Tibet on a climbing expedition at the time and just kept tabs on things by INMARSAT telephone.
Where are you located George?
The storm that’s passing over us in Northern Nevada brought snow this morning and maybe some more this evening, but I don’t know what that means for you in Colorado.
Huge fire on Fort Carson land south of Colorado Springs with high winds! Trying to get air support before dark.
Another in SE Colorado totally out of control. Now 1000 acres near Ordway and Rocky Ford is on standby for evacuations.
Winds expected to gust over 50 MPH tonite.
We're in the Wet Mountains and sit at about 7800 ft. We need an east or southeast upslope for our best snows down here.
Albuquerque lows dump on us something terrible. LOL
In 1997 we got 20 feet of snow for the winter...the most we've ever had down here.
Entire Town Of Ordway Evacuated; Fire Spreading Fast
http://www.kktv.com/news/headlines/17751274.html
The Albuquerque lows can really dump lots of snow here too. A few years ago was a March storm that dumped 4 1/2 ft at my house. It took me 3 days to dig out my sidewalk and driveway, but that was OK since the snow plows did not get here for 5 days!
Fort Carson on lockdown, Ordway evacuated over fires
http://www.gazette.com/news/ordway_35303___article.html/fort_fires.html
I hope everyone gets lots of snow to put these fires out. There were news stories yesterday about the dangerous conditions we would see today.
The promised snow will be helpful.
People also need to create a defensible space around their home to give fire fighters a chance.
Even that may not always work, but it is a good start.
Are you near any of these fires?
That night it started snowing and 23 hours later we had 5 feet of snow!
Lost power and had to tunnel to the wood shed to get wood to keep the house warm.
Then our grandson broke out with chicken pox!
What a winter!!!! LOL
I began reading the article just in case it was Carbondale, IL. I have some distant relatives who live there.
A wind-driven wildfire prompted authorities to evacuate all 1,100 residents from the southeastern Colorado town of Ordway on Tuesday, while a second fire in the western Colorado mountains ...
A third wildfire had burned more than 1,000 acres on Fort Carson and a forced a lockdown of the gates to the Army post near Colorado Springs.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/apr/15/residents-flee-wildfires/
On July 6, 1994, 14 wildland firefighters lost their lives when a wind shift resulted in a "blow-up" fire condition that trapped them on the uphill and downwind position from a fire on Storm King Mountain, just outside Glenwood Springs.
The fourteen firefighters included smokejumpers Don Mackey, Roger Roth, and James Thrash; Prineville Hot Shots John Kelso, Kathi Beck, Scott Blecha, Levi Brinkley, Bonnie Holtby, Rob Johnson, Tami Bickett, Doug Dunbar, and Terri Hagen; and helitack crew members Richard Tyler and Robert Browning.
.
A small plane involved in fighting a large wildifire near Fort Carson has crashed, killing the pilot.
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/15893753/detail.html#
There must be more than one Carbondale.
Was it greendale before the fire?
Yes, I remember that, it is one of the worst I can remember, very sad.
I witnessed a juvenile crew get overrun by fire from about half a mile away in ‘67 or ‘68. I believe 5 or 6 crew members died and the crew foreman as well.
That ended the use of juvy cews on hot lines, from then on we only used adult inmate crews.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.