High Park Fire in Colorado -- Lessons Learned

Hello all --

Article: http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/c...ar-fort-collins


Still lurking, but thought I'd mention some things that I'd not thought of in terms of wildfire, but are affecting myself and friends/family at the moment.


1) Our watershed is going to be fairly contaminated. Already one source of water, the Poudre river, has had its power knocked out, and the mountain reservoirs are going to get silted up so it may overload treatment plants. http://www.coloradoan.com/viewart/201206...s-water-quality

2) Communications. Many towers are on ridges in the foothills. One radio station, KUNC, lost power on Sunday and several cell towers are threatened: http://denver.cbslocal.com/2012/06/10/high-park-fire-continues-to-grow-1-confirmed-missing/

3) Possibility of evacuation orders being miss-communicated or overlooked. One person lost their life, possibly due to being in a cabin on their property instead of in the main house that had reverse 911. http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/31181910/detail.html Many summer cabins do not have phones at all.

4) Smoke. It's quite thick and traveling much further than one would suspect. It's a very large fire, and people with asthma or other conditions are wearing bandanas and face masks. It's causing headaches and other problems even for people who aren't normally over-sensitive to smoke, because it's been several days' worth.

5) The danger of long hikes into the backcountry. Two of us were hiking just south of this fire when it first occurred, and we didn't know the scope of it until we'd returned to town. Several other hikers were in its path and narrowly escaped: http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/31178399/detail.html


There's more I'd like to add, but I have to go for now. Feel free to add more info about this situation, or add links to other places on the forum that discuss large wildfires.

My contingency plan for encountering a wildfire while hiking or camping consists of "Flee, upwind if possible." Implicit in that contingency plan is having the appropriate navigation capability to execute it.

What am I missing?

How close is the fire? Assuming it's not right on top of you, you often have to only travel a couple miles to exit the danger area. If your vehicle is downwind and not that far, that could be the better bet to escape the path of the fire.

If the wind shifts, "upwind" could suddenly be downwind for the fire, especially if you haven't that far upwind, say, in rugged terrain. Like here in California, you can have an onshore breeze during the day as the ground heats up, but then the wind shifts to the opposite direction as the sun goes down.

I guess it all depends on the situation.

I experienced that here in California during one big wildfire upwind of me. Even wearing an N95 mask and staying indoors as much as possible, I still eventually almost had an asthma attack after being enveloped in smoke for many days straight. Bandanas and cheap paper masks aren't going to do much. It's the super fine particles that you really need to worry about and those will go right through and leak around those barriers.

People with heart trouble need to be careful, too. Smoke and toxic gases like carbon monoxide can put an extra strain on your heart, even if you're not exerting yourself.

Stay safe!

My daughter is up there. Living on the eastern edge of Horsetooth reservoir in the northern part of Ft. Collins, the fire being on the west side of the reservoir. Luckily she doesn't have much in the way of belongings (being a college student there), but she has the important stuff already loading in her car for potential evacuation. It is doubtful that the fire will cross over to where she is without a massive battle being raged by firefighters, because it's heavily populated with homes (suburban area, not sparse mountain homes). Still, she's ready to leave quickly if required.

Hi Haertig -- We're on the southeast side of the reservoir, ourselves. I agree, it's doubtful that the fire would be able to cross into heavily defended, well-watered neighborhoods. That said, we've got things ready just in case.

Arney -- Asthma? Ugh! Sounds like it was awful. Thankfully the smoke has shifted from this morning so we can breathe a little bit easier for the moment...

ChaosMagnet -- Given the crazy, irrational behavior of the fire that day, I've no idea what we could've done had it come our way all of a sudden.

I forgot to add that I haven't had an asthma attack in 20 years, so the smoke was definitely creating new health problems. By the time I finally went to the doctor on day 6 after the fire started, the skies had cleared, although when you checked the air quality numbers, the air was still laden with a lot of particulates. So just because the air looks clear doesn't mean that it's safe to breathe.

Thanks for the reminder, Arney. I've been having a bit of trouble breathing the last hour or so, because I was out doing some yard work.

According to AIRNow.gov, the local Air Quality Index is currently rated at 156 (Unhealthy) with a statement says, "People with heart or lung disease, older adults, and children should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion. Everyone else should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion."

If everyday yard work is heavy exertion, then I need to get into better shape!

I was considering going for a hike on Sunday, the day after the fire started but decided that if things developed too quickly my choice of location could wind up being trapped.


Being aware of fire danger of being trapped in a dead-end road and paying attention to smoke sight or smell is about all you can do when in the woods.

I get out of the smoke and get a great look at the smoke from a distance on my daily commute.

Best wishes for not suffering from any of it.

Listening to the air tankers in the battle on my scanners. Valiant battle. Probably even more valiant on the ground (where I can't hear their radios)

Probably a good decision. Even if you're not in any danger from flames, the air quality could make a hike rather unpleasant, even if the skies look clear to the eye where you are.

My brother and his wife moved away from Ft. Collins last fall. During my Christmas visit with them a couple years ago, they gave us a driving tour of the Horsetooth area. Gord mentioned that when they first moved to FC they were looking at acreages in that area. Like Meadowlark they lived on the E side of the resovoir.

Well, the good news is, the smoke has cleared up somewhat this morning. The bad news is, it's cleared up because the wind has increased due to an oncoming front.

We're now at 52,000+ acres and the fire has jumped the Poudre River: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_20861901/high-park-fire-jumps-poudre-river-80-homes

The article reports that they're air dropping ping-pong balls filled with flammable chemicals to fight the fire; I've never heard of this technique before...

This method is quite common, especially where the terrain is dificult and or where the fire is unpredictable due to winds etc which also poses a significant risk to fire fighting ground crews.

I've converted my ThreatCon Checklist into a FireCon Checklist. Please remember that I have NO experience in this type of situation and have listed those things that have come to my mind. Please make use of this if you can and repost any new list that you make with it for the rest of us to benefit from.

FireCon Checklist
Updated 29Aug10

5=Set at the beginning of Fire Season.
4=Fire(s) have started within your state or in a nearby state.
3=Fire(s) have started within your county.
2=Winds are forecasted to shift to an unfavorable direction
1=Local authorities are expected to issue an Evacuation Order for your area; Fire is approaching your area.


FireCon 5: Upon setting FireCon 5:

1) Have a “Family Plan” of what to do and where and how to meet in the event of an incident. Insure all family members are thoroughly briefed.
2) Ensure that basic supplies are kept at home for a minimum of 72 hours (3 days) sustenance/maintenance.
3) Know where the other family members are, when not at home.
4) Keep vehicle gas tanks at least half full.
5)

FireCon 4: Upon setting FireCon 4:

1) Ensure that basic supplies are kept at home for a minimum of 6 days sustenance/maintenance.
2) Know where the other family members are, when not at home.
3) Insure that 72 hour BoB’s are ready and readily accessible.
4) Maintain the “normal“ ear to local news broadcasts.
5) As opportunities occur, maintain contact with neighbors to share information.
6)

FireCon 3: Upon setting FireCon 3

1) Establish a “Rendezvous Point“ for family members, in case of separation.
2) Top off vehicle fuel tanks.
3) Load BoB‘s in vehicles.
4) Maintain a close watch on local news broadcasts.
5) Establish alternative communications system with extended family members.
6) Know where family members are and evaluate any destinations that family members wish to go to.
7)


FireCon 2: Upon setting FireCon 2:

1) Call Family Members home. Know everybody’s whereabouts.
2) Keep fuel tanks in vehicles above the ¾ full level.
3) Decision Time: When to leave and where to proceed.
4)


FireCon 1: Upon setting FireCon 1:

1) Execute Bug Out Plan.
2)

I live in SOCAL and have gone through a few of these without having to evacuate. However, my personal wildfire checklist is similar to wildman800's except it is more streamlined. His looks like a very good list for starts. My list is more like, FireCon 5: accept that fires can happen outside Fire Season so keep everything up-to-date. After that I begin with wildman800's item 3=Fire(s) have started within your county; I would add "and there is fuel to sustain the fire between where the fire is now and where you are" or words to that effect. Wind moves a fire, but it still needs fuel. Fires here almost always start in the east and move west. The winds may die down at night but it is almost always the east-west, hot, dry Santa Ana winds pushing the flames so wind direction is only critical when the fire is so close you can hear it -- by that time you are way into FireCon 1 and should be gone.

Anyway, when there is a fire loose to the east we go to item 3; I pack the truck (way more than "kits") and prepare to evacuate. It's critical to not wait until the smoke is invading your nostrils because packing to evacuate while on a tight time-line is not beneficial to packing what you need to save. You pack what you can grab and you will miss a lot.

That's the way my truck was when they gave the (fortunately) optional evacuation notice for the last largish fire. Just north of here the evacuation was not optional. Some of my neighbors took the opportunity to go on vacation so the children and pets weren't in the area. I stayed around as the neighborhood watch in a relatively quiet neighborhood. It was a good sign when the fireman down the street came home to take a break.

To summarize, I go from almost always in FireCon 5, to FireCon 3; I've come close to FireCon 1, but fortunately I live in the wrong ravine/canyon so have never gotten there.

Good list, Wildman. Just some additions off the top of my head.

Some FireCon 5 things I might add are:

• Check local wildfire plans. E.g. when I lived in Irvine, CA, the city had its own low power AM radio station for emergency broadcasts with possibly more pertinent info for residents. And certain neighborhoods there actually have a priority on shelter-in-place rather than evacuating, due to more modern, fire resistant building requirements and landscaping.
• Perform brush clearance and any other landscaping/maintenance tasks that local fire codes call for. Small but critical things like clearing dried leaves from rain gutters. Try and encourage your neighbors to do likewise.
• Check your insurance coverage, update any photos/inventory of your possessions for insurance purposes.
• Make any necessary copies of new, important documents and add them to your archive, whether a fire-resistant safe at home, a safety deposit box, another person's home, etc.
• Also update any new info that you need to take with you, e.g. you switched insurance carriers and new contact info for them
• Change filters on air conditioner and any room air filters, especially if you have household members with respiratory issues like asthma or emphysema

For FireCon3, I might add:

• Load BOB into vehicle and park with nose facing OUT, towards street
• If you have pets, check on availability of pet-friendly evacuation shelters or find other arrangements ahead of time
• Check your planned escape routes for any new impediments or bottlenecks that you might not be aware of, such as road repairs/construction, that may make them unsuitable for a mass evac. However, if there are official evacuation routes, use those. Other roads may be closed or restricted to official vehicles during an actual evac.

FirCon2 might also include:

• Consider applying fire resistant foam or other chemcials to exterior of house. Others may start watering down exterior of home but be aware that if everyone does that, you may be depriving fire fighters of critical water main pressure, especially in a hilly area. Some insurance companies will send a specialist to spray foam on your home for you.
• Move flammable outdoor items indoors. Drop water resistant furniture into your pool.

If you live in an area that is prone to having wildfires consider permanent removal of brush and flammable "stuff" near your home. with 5' of our house it is only gravel, tile or concrete.

The roof is stone coated steel.

My understanding of the ping pong balls is that they put in two chemicals that when mixed start to burn. They drop these where they want to remove fuel in front of the main fire. This strengthens the dug fire lines and denies the main fire of anything to burn so they can gain control. Its fighting fire with fire.

Correct, "ping pong balls" are just one of many potential sources of ignition for a backfire (or, for fuel management, prescribed burns). The chemical reaction is just potassium permanganate and antifreeze - it's not really a ping pong ball, it's a thick plastic sphere that contains a CC or two of KNO3. They're mechanically injected with antifreeze (or injected manually by bored hotshots just sitting around the station, who then toss the hot potato around) and it produces enough heat to ignite the plastic sphere.

Google "plastic sphere dispenser."

Wow, thanks for all the helpful input, everyone. This is why I like to visit here.


The fire is up to 45% containment now; that said, we're supposed to get temps upwards of 95F and 25+mph winds today:

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/c..._medium=twitter

Here's some first-hand reports regarding the evacuation:

http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_20874776/inside-powder-keg-local-fire-crews-talk-about#

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to my FireCon Checklist. I will update when I get home, with all of these suggestions!!!!

Thanks again!!!

The firefighters sometimes use swimming pools as a water source. Just something to consider.

Had to smile at that recommendation. Not too many folks have pools out here, especially in the mountains -- but we DO have a lot of hot tubs.

Yesterday the smoke and temps were pretty awful, but the firefighters managed to hold their lines fairly well. There was report of a moose coming into town that had to be tranquilized, as well as someone impersonating a firefighter and driving around abandoned neighborhoods in a truck with stolen govt' plates that was arrested.

There are now THREE major fires burning in the state. One near Fort Collins, one to the west of Colorado Springs and one near Pagosa Springs. Ugh.

How are you guys doing out there, Meadowlark?

Fire is over 50% contained and just short of 60,000 acres burned.

Crews are working hard to protect property and hold defensible lines (river, roads). They are letting it run West thru beetle kill to a good sized road and where CSU Pingree Park campus is and try to hold there.

100 degree temps yesterday made it pretty tough.
We have a cool break today and tomorrow then more high temps for weekend.

The logistics and equipment in use are very, very analogous to a war.

A co-worker's parents house is right on the line to the north. They are in "pre-evacuation" mode and have been for days. Just a little North wind and their place may be gone.

Hi Arney --

Sorry to not get back sooner. It's been kinda hectic.

I wish I could report more progress, but the 100+ degree temps and dry winds have not let up. The fire is now at least 83,205 acres, with 248 homes and many more structures lost. At one point there was 60 percent containment, but yesterday it went back down to 45.

More info here: http://inciweb.org/incident/2904/

We had a bit of a fright when a new fire started up just outside the Beaver Meadows entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes Park; last word is that it was 75+ percent contained and at least 21 homes lost.

There are numerous other fires in the state, including near Leadville, Pagosa Springs, and Manitou Springs/Colo Springs. Several thousand people in the latter area have been evacuated, including quite a few tourists to Pike's Peak:

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/06/25/us-usa-wildfires-idINBRE85L1DD20120625



Hopefully we'll get some rain soon....

Here's my revamped FireCon Checklist. Please shoot it full of holes so that it may be improved for those who can use that info. Feel free to copy and send this to anyone who might benefit from it as well.

FireCon Checklist
Updated 25Jun2012



5=Set at the beginning of Fire Season or when conditions are ripe.
4=Fire(s) have started within your state or in a nearby state.
3=Fire(s) have started within your county and there is fuel to sustain the fire between where the fire is now and where you are.
2=Winds are forecasted to shift to an unfavorable direction
1=Local authorities are expected to issue an Evacuation Order for your area; Fire is approaching your area.


FireCon 5: Upon setting FireCon 5:

1) Have a “Family Plan” of what to do and where and how to meet in the event of an incident. Insure all family members are thoroughly briefed.
2) Ensure that basic supplies are kept at home for a minimum of 72 hours (3 days) sustenance/maintenance.
3) Know where the other family members are, when not at home.
4) Keep vehicle gas tanks at least half full.
5) Check local wildfire plans. E.g. when I lived in Irvine, CA, the city had its own low power AM radio station for emergency broadcasts with possibly more pertinent info for residents. And certain neighborhoods there actually have a priority on shelter-in-place rather than evacuating, due to more modern, fire resistant building requirements and landscaping.
6) Perform brush clearance and any other landscaping/maintenance tasks that local fire codes call for. Small but critical things like clearing dried leaves from rain gutters. Try and encourage your neighbors to do likewise.
7) Check your insurance coverage, update any photos/inventory of your possessions for insurance purposes.
8) Make any necessary copies of new, important documents and add them to your archive, whether a fire-resistant safe at home, a safety deposit box, another person's home, etc.
9) Also update any new info that you need to take with you, e.g. you switched insurance carriers and new contact info for them
10) Change filters on air conditioner and any room air filters, especially if you have household members with respiratory issues like asthma or emphysema.
11)


FireCon 4: Upon setting FireCon 4:

1) Ensure that basic supplies are kept at home for a minimum of 6 days sustenance/maintenance.
2) Know where the other family members are, when not at home.
3) Insure that 72 hour BoB’s are ready and readily accessible.
4) Maintain the “normal“ ear to local news broadcasts.
5) As opportunities occur, maintain contact with neighbors to share information.
6)

FireCon 3: Upon setting FireCon 3

1) Establish a “Rendezvous Point“ for family members, in case of separation.
2) Top off vehicle fuel tanks.
3) Load BoB‘s in vehicles and park with nose facing OUT, towards street.
4) Maintain a close watch on local news broadcasts.
5) Establish alternative communications system with extended family members.
6) Know where family members are and evaluate any destinations that family members wish to go to.
7) If you have pets, check on availability of pet-friendly evacuation shelters or find other arrangements ahead of time
8) Check your planned escape routes for any new impediments or bottlenecks that you might not be aware of, such as road repairs/construction, that may make them unsuitable for a mass evac. However, if there are official evacuation routes, use those. Other roads may be closed or restricted to official vehicles during an actual evac.
9)



FireCon 2: Upon setting FireCon 2:

1) Call Family Members home. Know everybody’s whereabouts.
2) Keep fuel tanks in vehicles above the ¾ full level.
3) Decision Time: When to leave and where to proceed.
4) Consider applying fire resistant foam or other chemcials to exterior of house. Others may start watering down exterior of home but be aware that if everyone does that, you may be depriving fire fighters of critical water main pressure, especially in a hilly area. Some insurance companies will send a specialist to spray foam on your home for you.
5) Move flammable outdoor items indoors. Drop water resistant furniture into your pool (If you own one).
6)


FireCon 1: Upon setting FireCon 1:

1) Execute Bug Out Plan.

I just read on msnbc.com that over 30,000 people have been evacuated in one area alone.


Quite a dramatic picture and you can't help but feel for the people whom have lost everything and their lives have changed forever...

+1. Seems the worst possible conditions have come together all at once.