High Park Fire

akilina wrote:

Mtn Gramma wrote:

akilina wrote: I spent most of the evening listening to the scanner for the Larimer county area. A bit surprised with what I was hearing. Guess I would consider staying home too.

Could you elaborate a little more? I'm not understanding what I've quoted. Thanks.

Please keep in mind that this channel might not be representative of others f.f. in the area, but there was much confusion and disarray. There clearly were not enough units to do much with so many homes to protect. How they chose was interesting. It just wasn't the most professional. I can understand listening to this why some residents chose to stay home and protect their own.

Also after talking with friends who were evacuated, some neighbors stayed behind and saved their homes by wetting down the area and doing other things and saved our friends' home, not by wetting it down but by putting out the spot fires. No f.f. available to help.

I don't advocate staying when there is a mandatory evacuation but I am sure everyone has to make their own decision depending on the situation.

I don't know much about ham radios but apparently someone has one and has been able to get information out about their particular area which has been much more helpful to others than the info they are receiving from officials.

Pure ignorance would cause someone to stay to attempt to protect their home over their lives. An untrained person with a garden hose is asking to die. Hopefully fire personnel don't risk their lives to save people this dumb. Right now the fire in High Park is moving at 40 feet per minute. A simple garden hose will do nothing.

This is why we buy fire insurance, and we mitigate to the best of our ability.

Larimer County just posted a pdf map of the fire area. It's very detailed.

http://larimer.org/emergency/highpark.pdf

I wonder why you couldn't a "tornado shelter" like small underground structure to escape in case the fire overruns your house? You'd have to have some sort of filtered or bottled air (not oxygen, naturally) to breath. It wouldn't be to live in, just to jump in in the path of approaching flames.

A good update on the news. Really glad that the Type 1's are present. I know several who have been Type 1's for many years, often travelling to other states. They have really good training and glad that they can put their skills to work in their own state.

Good point the Type 1 Commander said about mitigating and reducing fuels.

Raees wrote:

Larimer County just posted a pdf map of the fire area. It's very detailed.

http://larimer.org/emergency/highpark.pdf

I wonder why you couldn't a "tornado shelter" like small underground structure to escape in case the fire overruns your house? You'd have to have some sort of filtered or bottled air (not oxygen, naturally) to breath. It wouldn't be to live in, just to jump in in the path of approaching flames.

Inciweb also has a map updated 2 hours ago.
http://inciweb.org/incident/2904/

Have no idea of how something like a tornado shelter would work. I do know some f.f. who have saved themselves by moving back to an area already burned and not really hot and covering themselves as fire came back over. Really a whole lot better to not even be there.

From The Flume

35 attend Guffey wildfire seminar
Officials address defensible space, evacuations, animal preparation, more

http://www.theflume.com/news/article_2b ... 0f31a.html

If you do decide to shelter in place or you have waited too long and find you cannot evacuate, said Felton, YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN. Stay away from windows, as they crack in the heat and let in debris and embers flying before the flame front. Close all doors and lock them. Put water on towels and rugs and move to the back side of the house away from the flame front. Remember that as hot as it is inside the house, it is five times hotter outside. The car is not a good place to seek shelter, either.

Stay away from windows, as they crack in the heat and let in debris and embers flying before the flame front. Close all doors and lock them.

I'm shocked they would tell people this. If the fire overruns your house and burns it down, locked doors aren't going to do diddly-squat. As they said, you can't go outside because it's five times hotter. Your house will spontaneously combust from the heat. Your decision to stay and try and save your house means you signed your own death warrant.

I am guessing that they say lock doors so that they don't reopen and allow more oxygen in.

I learned to leave the doors unlocked when leaving to make it easier for f.f. to access.

But if you are caught unawares maybe this would be a more feasible approach?

As restless as those displaced by the fire are becoming, I am wondering if they won't get together and demand that they get more information or turn to other sources, like the internet where people are posting pix of burnt homes, etc.

And while I don't think they are ready to address this either, I am wondering, like the Lower North Fork Fire residents who lost homes/property, if they won't go to their representatives, state and federal officials to ask that new approaches be taken to mitigate the fuels on state and federal lands.

As one of the fire officials said early on, I don't remember who, something has to be done to make it safer living near any of these areas.

There are multiple private briefings every day for evacuees -- information that is not shared with the public or on the Internet. Perhaps they should attend those.

Raees wrote: There are multiple private briefings every day for evacuees -- information that is not shared with the public or on the Internet. Perhaps they should attend those.

And perhaps they have and they still aren't getting answers.

There is another one at 3 pm for evacuees.