Posted on 10/24/2020 9:44:38 AM PDT by HereInTheHeartland
The fires around Rocky Mountain National Park have been devastating. Much destruction just north of Grand Lake. Fire moving in on Estes Park now. Snow coming tonight; its a race to hold off the fire until the snow arrives.
I live in Iowa but love this area.
I spent two days hiking and camping within Estes Park, and the memories from that, over 20 years ago, were priceless.
Estes Park is a nice place. First the flood and now this.
This fire grew from 19,000 acres Wednesday night to 125,000 acres Thursday morning. It exceeded the worst case scenarios of the emergency response people.
Grew at one point of 6,000 acres per hour.
Grand Lake was almost lost but I hear they saved it.
The Winding River Ranch just north of Grand Lake was destroyed
Any Freepers with knowledge about the extent of the damage in the area caused by pine-borer beetles? Monarch Pass, I know, is a tender box of dead trees awaiting a spark.
Lots of damage, there are dead lodge pole pines all over.
The left has prevented them but removed
Estes Park is glorious, at the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. Home of the Stanley Hotel, inspired Stephen King to write the Shining after he stayed there
Gorgeous area. When I was a kid, we went to the C Lazy U ranch every summer in Granby Colorado. My sister called a couple of days ago to say that neighbors had arrived with enough horse trailers to get 200 horses out safely as fire approached. Fire got close enough to burn some outbuildings, but the barns and gorgeous main two-story ranch house are fine.
Prayers for the safety of buildings and wild animals in the Estes Park area.
I served alongside the Estes Valley Fire Chief back when he was a volunteer firefigher. He’s a good man who gave up a good career in the energy industry to take on this job. I wish him and his community all the best.
The beetle kill is vast. All of Grand County.
I have been going out there for several years. Most people have no idea of the vast amounts of fuel sitting in the forests.
Environmentalists need to be held accountable for pushing policies that let this happen.
Haven’t had a beetle kill this bad since Dakota of 1980.
It’s horrific and the democRat governors have had 12 years to mitigate.
We used to go to Estes Park every summer when I was growing up. Love that area. Will be heartbroken if it burns down. Come on snow!
“The Winding River Ranch just north of Grand Lake was destroyed”
Sad to hear. I spent many summers there.
“Any Freepers with knowledge about the extent of the damage in the area caused by pine-borer beetles?”
Total devastation, and that was 15 years ago. The beetles wiped out that forest and it has been waiting to be burned out ever since. We knew any fire would race through that area with all that dry standing timber.
Things are sounding better now:
“Crews continue to make progress on the fire. At this point, all fire is still in the National Park, west of Bear Lake Road and south of Trail Ridge Road. There is a lot of work left to do, but Mother Nature may start to help us out. Relative humidities are expected to rise over the next few hours, as winds as expected to reduce. This will cause fire behavior to moderate and put more options on the table. The Incident Management Team, Rocky Mountain National Park, and local resources are all aligned in the same goal of keeping everyone safe and putting this fire out before it impacts our community. We’ve got hours to go until the snow, but conditions are improving.”
From the Estes Valley Fire Protection District
Come on snow!!!
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