saw fire up close & personal....

Durango had its first fire, today ---- and it showed up right above my home!

Driving home from work - I noticed an awful lot of smoke. As I neared the source - I realized I was looking at a forest fire --- and that it was just a couple hundred yards above my home! (okay - maybe 1/2 mile --- but it was close!)

Lots of good news, though:
- the fire department was on it within 10 minutes of call-in
- they pounced on it with 3 choppers and a spotter plane
- the fire was out by about 8:30 PM.

My night job employer kicked me out of the office, and told me to go home and pack...... It later occurred to me just how bad it could have gotten (my employer understands that full well, having been evacuated several times over the last 2 decades).

10 years in Colorado - and this is as close as I'd like to get to a fire

---

1/2 mile is plenty close!!!!

My best wishes to you and your family. Stay safe and bail out if it gets too crazy, stuff can be replaced - when it comes to replacing people and pets it gets a bit more difficult.

The paper said it was 2 acres ---- it sure looked bigger than that to me when it was burning!

Then again - when you see a fire right above your home ---- I suspect it looks really big.

http://www.durangoherald.com/article/20 ... -near-town

We had an impressive helicopter working (K-max, I think) ---- no rotor on the tail. It was fast, quiet --- and powerful.

The helicopter was making runs to the river below our place ---- making (by my estimate) 10 drops per hour.

Does fire follow you or something?

Were you here for the Hi Meadow fire? That was pretty close as the crow flies. Wow if the f.d. had gotten to Hi Meadow in 10 minutes instead of several hours of dancing around, the outcome could have been very different.

Glad you are ok. Nothing like seeing fire nearly right on top of you.

wow BB close call. Glad everything turned out ok.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/31 ... etail.html

Thanks, Becky. We live across the street from DoT. Granted - it's a big street (something like 285 in downtown Bailey).

Nonetheless ---- it's eye-opening!

Just heard from friends who live in Rist Canyon and have evacuated. Looks like this one took off and no end in sight. They don't know the status of their home but fire was bearing down.

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2012/06/09/s ... s-unknown/
Structures Burn, Whereabouts Of Some Residents Unknown In High Park Fire

A slide show from a neighbor.

You'll see:
- 3 different choppers
- spotter plane
- approx 100 fire fighters on-the-ground.

Response time - 10-15 minutes.

Fire controlled ---- 4 hours.

Final assessment --- approx 4 acres (seemed bigger). Human caused (no further information)

[youtube:3b8yy2xp][/youtube:3b8yy2xp]

some torching at about 2:10 on this video.

[youtube:3b8yy2xp][/youtube:3b8yy2xp]

Wow! It does look bigger than 2 acres and in steep terrain.

Amazed that they had so many available for an air attack.