Big fire in Boulder county Colorado

[endobear]

Over 500 homes burned. Hospital getting evacuated now. Terrible...
Crazy wind all day.

 

[Singleton]

Sitting in Breckinridge with my BIL and it looks like he lost his house.
We will find out tomorrow when we drive back down into Denver

 

[HTTP404]

Shit is bad there. The medical center burned down.

 

[HTTP404]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1476722606493605888

 

[Taboma]

I guess I'd have to have been there to better understand how, even with high winds, how buildings like these are burning with no vegetation apparently close to them ????? I see some tall grass and a few scattered trees, but a medical center surrounded by what I'd imagine are parking lots ?
Horrible, but confusing to an outsider. I read in the other link wind gusts of 105 MPH, which nobody can stop, but you still need fuel.

 

[JUSTWANNARACE]

I guess I'd have to have been there to better understand how, even with high winds, how buildings like these are burning with no vegetation apparently close to them ????? I see some tall grass and a few scattered trees, but a medical center surrounded by what I'd imagine are parking lots ?
Horrible, but confusing to an outsider. I read in the other link wind gusts of 105 MPH, which nobody can stop, but you still need fuel.

All it takes is one ember to highlight a whole building. Especially the ones with a hot mop roof. And winds that speed it doesn't take much to transfer building to building. And with winds that extent I'm sure there is a buck of molten steel.

 

[Singleton]

I guess I'd have to have been there to better understand how, even with high winds, how buildings like these are burning with no vegetation apparently close to them ????? I see some tall grass and a few scattered trees, but a medical center surrounded by what I'd imagine are parking lots ?
Horrible, but confusing to an outsider. I read in the other link wind gusts of 105 MPH, which nobody can stop, but you still need fuel.

Embers are flying building to building. Winds were clocked @ 100mph. The ground is not burning, embers are jumping building to building

 

[Tank]

That shits crazy!

Why isn’t that place covered in snow right now?

Anyone know how long the winds are going to last?

 

[caribbean20]

The fuel is vast areas of open grassland. Dead grass, due to extreme drought. High wind, dead grass and blown over power lines (sound familiar Northern California?).

Our home is 4 miles due east of the fire. Been watching our cameras and streaming news all day from our perch in Hermosa Beach. A bit on edge.

 

[caribbean20]

That shits crazy!

Why isn’t that place covered in snow right now?

Anyone know how long the winds are going to last?

Through the night, but lessening a bit. We are due for a foot of snow tomorrow, getting some of this CA moisture moving east.

 

[endobear]

That shits crazy!

Why isn’t that place covered in snow right now?

Anyone know how long the winds are going to last?

We are super dry right now. Driest I've seen it in my 31 years living here.
Im about 45 minutes west of Denver at about 8500'. Haven't had 3" of snow total this season.

 

[CarolynandBob]

I guess I'd have to have been there to better understand how, even with high winds, how buildings like these are burning with no vegetation apparently close to them ????? I see some tall grass and a few scattered trees, but a medical center surrounded by what I'd imagine are parking lots ?
Horrible, but confusing to an outsider. I read in the other link wind gusts of 105 MPH, which nobody can stop, but you still need fuel.

After the 07 fires we moved out to Jamul. More dangerous than 4S Ranch, which we moved from, as far as wild fires.

Shortly after we were there a fireman moved a few doors down. I asked him what would help in a fire. He said roof vents are a big cause of houses catching fire. He looked at my place. It had 6 roof vents and a attic fan that would suck the hot air out. He said those vents and fans could suck in the embers and light the whole place up.

That may be how the med center caught fire, not sure.

I ended up closing off the vents on the east side of the house, That was mainly because of Santa Ana winds. Then I wired a switch to turn off the attic fan when there was a fire anywhere near us. Not sure if it would of helped as we didn't get any big fires out near us.

 

[Taboma]

All it takes is one ember to highlight a whole building. Especially the ones with a hot mop roof. And winds that speed it doesn't take much to transfer building to building. And with winds that extent I'm sure there is a buck of molten steel.

Having lost our home to a wildfire in 07', I'm familiar with the basics. A whole lot of variables, venting, fuel load and proximity, building materials.
I've watched them weld on a hot mop roof and the building didn't burn, but if embers include flying branches, that certainly changes things.
Having rebuilt with what is often termed a "Shelter in Place" construction, I find myself studying why one home or building burns, while another, maybe right next door, does not.

 

[Taboma]

The fuel is vast areas of open grassland. Dead grass, due to extreme drought. High wind, dead grass and blown over power lines (sound familiar Northern California?).

Our home is 4 miles due east of the fire. Been watching our cameras and streaming news all day from our perch in Hermosa Beach. A bit on edge.

Trust me, having been awakened pre-dawn with a wildfire at your front door, then losing the home. That was 14 years ago, still, there's a kind of PTSD that hangs with you.
I understand your anxiety, I suffer miserably during the falls when the santa anas blow, like a cat pacing a cage.
Hoping the best for you and your home !!!!!!!! May the winds be favorable to you

 

[RitcheyRch]

Prayers sent for everyone living near and affected by the fires in Colorado.

 

[Taboma]

After the 07 fires we moved out to Jamul. More dangerous than 4S Ranch, which we moved from, as far as wild fires.

Shortly after we were there a fireman moved a few doors down. I asked him what would help in a fire. He said roof vents are a big cause of houses catching fire. He looked at my place. It had 6 roof vents and a attic fan that would suck the hot air out. He said those vents and fans could suck in the embers and light the whole place up.

That may be how the med center caught fire, not sure.

I ended up closing off the vents on the east side of the house, That was mainly because of Santa Ana winds. Then I wired a switch to turn off the attic fan when there was a fire anywhere near us. Not sure if it would of helped as we didn't get any big fires out near us.

After ours burned in the Witch Creek Fire, they made a lot of changes in the local fire codes. Our vents are all special O'Hagen, fire vents (designed to prevent embers from entering), no exposed wood, no eve vents, and others.
We've done a good job of allowing our home to be survivable, and it seems to have pleased the fire inspectors who came by making assessments.

I'm guessing these assessments might be like a "To Save or not to Save" and I think they might actually try to save the neighborhood this time rather than park out on the highway, deciding to just let it burn through. Leaving the residents to put up a losing struggle and without any support finally forced to flee.
Seems all these firefighters parked out there weren't from the area. So apparently there's some rules they couldn't come in without a local crew, which unfortunately with over a 1,000 homes burning, were a little busy elsewhere.

Yet just around the corner, a friend of mine and his two sons, with hoses positioned and a good water supply, fought tirelessly and saved not only their home but numerous others by preventing the fire from climbing a hill. Again, the fire trucks were parked out on the highway, but finally Richard by phone convinced them with a couple of copter dumps and a couple of men, they could save the area homes and they finally showed and did.

Anyway, since our fire I find that despite the incredible anxiety and nausea I feel watching wildfires, I'm drawn like a moth to the flame, so I watch and try to learn.

One morning a few years ago I watched a live helo feed as a fire swept out of Santa Ana Canyon down into Anaheim hills, then followed through Villa Park, down behind my old youthful stomping grounds of Cowan and Lemon Heights, clear down to damn near Irvine. This is where I grew up and I recall several wildfires from my childhood both there and up at Lake Arrowhead.
That coverage went on almost all day long, best I've ever seen. I was paying particular attention to which homes burned and which survived, sickening, yet fascinating.

Venting is HUGE, exposure, wind direction, the embers. But to watch attics starting to smoke then the homes burning from the inside out, I'd have never believed it.
In many cases the vegetation surrounding the home was unscathed, I was amazed, the trees and bushes weren't burning, but flames were pouring from the attic vents.

Jamul holy crap, when isn't there a fire in Jamul during the fall ?

My favorite place to be in the whole wide world when a Santa Ana blows is Lake Havasu. It's more than half the reason we've kept the place even using it increasingly infrequently ( The Asshole Factor + Ocean Boats = Far Less Desirable then in the past).
A bad Santa Ana + a couple of close local out of control fires = Fuck it, we're heading for the lake, it's my escape room.
I'm not going to sit here and watch another home burn.

Got a letter from our insurance company stating they've contracted with a private fire fighting and or mitigation company. Seems in the event of an threatening fire, the arrive and take steps that might serve to save the home. I recall watching such a company work to save a home up by Westlake if I recall. Helo video feed showed them setting up a pool pump and large sprinklers soaking the canyon edge behind the home.

If we leave CA, more than likely it will be motivated more by fire than politics.

 

[caribbean20]

Luckily the wind was our friend, no damage to our neighborhood, but guess who’s going to be checking his fire insurance policy today

 

[Taboma]

Luckily the wind was our friend, no damage to our neighborhood, but guess who’s going to be checking his fire insurance policy today

For sure and next trip if you haven't done so lately, take pics of every single item in your home --- I do it annually with cabinet doors and drawers wide open. Then store that on a flash drive in a safety deposit box.

 

[baja-chris]

Heard from my sister at daybreak near there who is out of harms way now, but said many homes still burning and big fear now is so many had gas and power shut off that pipes may freeze and burst as temps expected into single digits. She has friends who lost homes in this and depending on wind it may not be over. Sad deal.
Typical plumbing is 6 feet under and comes into home in basement then up into walls with expectation that there is enough heat in the home to keep the pipes from freezing in the walls. But a couple days of no heat is bad news. When evacuating from a fire, unlikely to take time to drain or winterize the home.

 

[boatpi]

Live now: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...t-snow-aids-fire-crews-extinguishin-rcna10530

FOX31 Live Stream: Watch newscast replays

Watch streaming local news from FOX31 KDVR-TV in Denver, Colorado.

kdvr.com

 

[Singleton]

Sitting in Breckinridge with my BIL and it looks like he lost his house.
We will find out tomorrow when we drive back down into Denver

Well my BIL’s house was saved, so that is good news. Friends of SIL and BIL lost everything

 

[Taboma]

Well my BIL’s house was saved, so that is good news. Friends of SIL and BIL lost everything

And just like that, only thing active is smoldering remains as a light snowfall starts covering the carnage. Then you see a picture like this and think -- How the hell ????