Lower North Fork Fire & Prescribed Fire Review

Agree with most of what you said mtntrekker.. There is still much to be learned from this incident.

Unfortunately, we cannot recover either the lives, or the property lost, or the anguish caused to others affected. What we can do is learn from the mistakes made here, to avoid making those mistakes again.

I am hoping we will do that.

A wise man might not have made such a comment like this:

"Their outlook was good and they quite frankly did the burn very well. It was a very well done, executed prescribed fire, up to the point where we get into patrol," Bass said."

Yes.... They did it very well, well enough to kill three people and destroy 27 homes.... and effected lives far more reaching than any number could ever give justice to.....

There was no justice in that report.

And justice needs to find a place in this process...... people need to heal and be made whole.

Gov Hickenlooper it seems does not appear to feel that way.

Netdude, I was awake last night thinking about what you posted.

I know this is a review of the fire before it took off, but so many questions kept popping up. If they now know that charred material in the burn area can burn from embers blowing in the high wind, there should be a serious question as to whether there should be this kind of controlled burn. If I am understanding controlled burns correctly, they are initiated to reduce the fuels in the area. But since all of it isn't blacklined, meaning everything carefully burned to create a line around the prescribed fire there is too much potential for remaining charred material to ignite and fly and with the surrounding areas overgrown, the stage is set for an uncontrolled fire. Because unforseen and forseen winds can move the fire, it just doesn't seem feasible to have controlled burns. There has to be other alternatives that are safer.

Dare I say logging? Manual removal of all trees in a given area to create a fire break like the road and meadow up on Keuhster that the firefighters used to keep it from spreading?

I know Jeffco has mandatory removal of trees when building a new home. I wonder how many out of control fires will happen before homeowners, mind you not restrictions on usfs or csfs, but homeonwers will be mandated to mitigate their entire property, because of land use regulations or insurance issues.

http://www.850koa.com/player/?mid=22005525

Audio of Fire evacuee reaction to state panel findings: A panel investigating the prescribed burn that caused the fire

Really good audio. I hope they can prove gross negligence. Looks like Bass and the other reviewers are working on behalf of CSFS to keep it out of gross negligence which would give the homeowners a valid claim.

I want to see what kind of spin the Jeffco Sheriff puts on the failure of emergency alert notifications and waiting so long to contact homeowners.

Looks like we will be doing a lot of reading as they try to drown us in paper showing what a good job they did.

As much as I hate to be one of the taxpayers who has to pay for the state's negligence, I want to see the homeowners make the state accountable, otherwise it is business as usual until the next deaths and destruction.

Everyone take your blood pressure meds....We are in for a bumpy ride.

On Oct. 13, as firefighters built a blackened line meant to contain a controlled burn, embers jumped a road and sparked a small fire.

The crew had it contained within 10 minutes, but it should have left a lasting impression, according to the head of a team that reviewed what happened: The topography made this a potential trouble spot when it came time for the burn itself, especially if winds kicked up.

Yet the Forest Service sent only a three-person crew to patrol the perimeter of the 50-acre burn area on the day it jumped the line, even though a red-flag warning had been issued the previous afternoon.

The firefighters on site were busy with two other spot fires that escaped elsewhere, the report said. By the time the incident commander spotted heavy smoke near the site of the October fire and found another one burning there, his rig was out of water.

http://www.denverpost.com/investigation ... north-fork

Jeffco release report on Lower North Fork Fire

"The reports confirm previous assumptions that a prescribed burn conducted by the Colorado State Forest Service caused the fire. Based on the review of all available documents and witness interviews, it was determined that the CSFS followed or exceeded the parameters set by the Lower North Fork burn plan, and that no criminal violation of the Colorado Revised Statutes occurred," the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said.

However, a report by the governor's office, released on Monday, showed that the state forest service violated its own burn plan by not patrolling the area of the controlled burn on Sunday -- the day before the controlled burn blew up into the Lower North Fork Fire.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/30 ... etail.html

WTH

Thanks Becky.

Why would I expect any differently? That's our gument at work. Screw up but they did nothing wrong. If anything it will probably motivate the affected homeowners, who are planning on meeting, to work together and go after them. They get my support.

Anyone have access to the cd or whatever it is that has the info so we can read? Thanks.

I haven't looked at it in detail yet, but it appears that the Jefferson County investigation report is available here .