What man can do is small compared to nature. This is the largest forest fire in the history of the State of Colorado. The fire has killed one person, destroyed 100 homes, and consumed 43,433 acres of land (~175.767 square Km).
I live ~60 miles (100 Km) south of the threatened city of Fort Collins. My daughter lives in the city and attends the Colorado State University there. I can smell the smoke this morning from this fire in my kitchen as I write this post.
Images are worth a thousand words. See below.
High Park Fire
Dog Soldier
Boy, that is a really bad deal. What are they saying started the fire, lighting or human?
Does that area of CO normally get much rain? Is there a drought going on?
Drought and lightning started this disaster.
Dog Soldier
Many dead trees from pine beetles. Drought to the extent that the latest snow measure for the state was 2% of normal. Brian last I heard was third largest in state history has ot grown that much overnight?
Amazingly severe fire.
Rick
Yeah, I heard several news agencies saying it has grown to the largest in the state's history. Just heard the assertion, no hard numbers. Maybe the difference in acreage between third and first was not that different?
Smoke so bad in Ft Collins residents are being warned to stay indoors due to health issues from poor air quality.
Dog Soldier
I just don't like to see this happening.....Such a waste of country side, and all that goes with it.......Yes a Tragedy
If it was just the trees, it wouldn't be so bad, as the majority of those burning are dead from the beatles. The fire is actually about 1/3 the size of a fire 10 years ago, but has now burned nearly 200 homes, which is the most lost in Colorado to a fire, ever. I was on a 100+ mile bike ride today and could see the haze from the smoke, and when I was driving home saw pillars of smoke rising from the ridgelines up north, about 80 miles away.
Rick
Below is a link to a time lapse video of the Boulder, Colorado Flagstaff fire.
While not as big as other fires in the state, you can see over the three days the effect of the wind, rain, and changes from a front moving through the area.
The night time portions are pretty dramatic as the fire comes over the crest of the ridge.
Total run time is only four minutes. Look for the meteor that streaks by on the first night.
Boulder's Flagstaff fire video
Dog Soldier