Posted on 06/27/2012 8:51:13 AM PDT by Hojczyk
Fire crews outside Colorado Springs, Colo., expected more weather trouble on Wednesday in what the local fire chief called a "monster event" that doubled in size overnight and has forced 32,000 people to flee.
Heavy smoke made for unhealthy air in and around the city. After jumping fire lines Tuesday, the towering blaze has now burned 24 square miles and an undetermined number of homes.
While crews should get a break from the heat, a forecast for thunderstorms could mean unpredictable winds.
"This is a fire of epic proportions," Brown said at a briefing Tuesday night.
"It was like looking at the worst movie set you could imagine," Gov. John Hickenlooper added after flying over the fire. "It's almost surreal. You look at that, and it's like nothing I've seen before."
Among the evacuees were cadets and staff at the U.S. Air Force Academy, where flames crested a ridge high above its campus on Tuesday when more than 2,100 residents were told to get out.
A new class of 1,045 cadets was to have reported to campus on Thursday but will instead check in at another facility.
Brown insisted that "many, many homes" were saved by firefighters.
Hickenlooper told anxious residents that "we have all the support of the U.S. government. We have all the support of the state of Colorado. And we want everybody here to know that."
He emphasized that Colorado was open to tourism, saying various fires had affected just a half-percent of all public lands and perhaps 400 of 10,000 campground sites.
Colorado is battling 12 large fires, its worst fire season in history, and other states across the West are being taxed as well.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
New trees can’t grow fast enough to replace trees destroyed by fires in this country. And year after year after year it continues.
This has been happening for eons, FRiend. They might not grow back in a lifetime, but they’ll grow back.
The charred landscape is actually fertile and once wet will become a prime area for man-made or natural seeding.
True. Heat fixes nitrogen in the soil. Want to make a pasture more fertile for next year? Burn it. By the following year, you won’t be able to tell there was ever a fire, because it will be covered by the native ground cover, or whatever you decide to plat.
Forest Service lawsuits from by environmentalists brought on part of this — no road building, no logging, no thinning of small trees, no harvest of pine beetle killed trees. And after the fires no salvage of burned trees leaving them there to accumulate until the next hot, dry season occurs. Romney could argue healthy forests would prevent these disasters, irrespective of whether he believes the cause was drought caused by us nasty industrialized humans.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2899957/posts?page=5#5
Fire is now into the Air Force Academy property, SW corner, I can see it from my deck.
Mother nature once again showing she can put out thousands more “tons” of carbon in minutes than all of humanity can do in years.
I am concerned with the possibility of muslim or other enemies going around and setting a bunch of fires, but if the brush isn't too thick and the fire is quick, the bigger trees survive.
As for not growing trees back quickly, leave a field vacant for a few years. It doesn't take long for trees to pop up and the wild to take over.
You can't be serious. In the forest? In Colorado???? You'd need 30,000 full-time employees.
Yeah...and highly educated scientists were astonished how fast Mt. St. Helen’s flora and fauna came back.
Some seeds need to go thru a fire before they can sprout. One needs a time scale based on centuries not decades.
Anyone hearing recent news? I’m concerned about friends around Monument.
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