Some shots from the Colorado High Park Fire

[clankenstein]

i hope you guys are doing ok there. i went to denver once,on a station visit to kcnc i think it was . i liked it.

[Pilgrim]

The fire is still huge here, but I think they're getting a handle on it.  They may have containment by the start of next week.

I think the lost homes total around 267 at this point.  There are shelters in town and they've set up an emergency center on the Colorado State Univ. campus.  A number of CSU faculty and staff have lost homes.  There are many animals sheltered at the county fairgrounds since most people could get horses and livestock out, and local animal shelters are loaded with house pets.

There are also many people in motor homes and staying with friends and in shelters - some have been out of their homes for 2+ weeks, and they don't know whether their surviving houses will be habitable when they return.  And nearly 300 families have no place to go because their homes are gone.

The fires next to Colorado Springs and the new one in Boulder look like they're picking up momentum and they're pretty nasty.

And our forecast is for temps in the 99-100 degree range for the next week. 

This will be a historic summer for fires in this state!

[Dave W]

Nature will heal itself in time. I feel for the people affected.

[Pilgrim]

Amen.

I heard on this AM's news that 60 MPH winds reversed the direction of the fires in Colorado Springs and they entered the city limits.  I'm not sure how much damage was done.  The Air Force Academy is on the North end of town and more than 32,000 people at the Academy and in town have been evacuated.

This article says the C Springs fire doubled in size overnight:  http://www.chieftain.com/news/region/air-force-academy-under-partial-evacuation-from-wildfire/article_da436662-bff8-11e1-8a27-001a4bcf887a.html

[Pilgrim]

I just heard on our late news that our local fire (High Park) is 75% contained, although it has become the most destructive fire in Colorado history with (I think) 278 structures burned.  

They are shifting some of the firefighting resources to the Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado Springs, which has quickly destroyed many homes and has now reached 15,000 acres and caused more than 35,000 people to evacuate in the past five days.  Latest estimates are that more than 300 homes have burned there.


http://www.9news.com/news/article/274540/71/Colorado-wildfires-Day-5-Waldo-Canyon-Fire-near-Colorado-Springs-burns-several-homes-thousands-evacuated

Here's a shot of smoke conditions in Colorado Springs:


We did get some rain across the front range of the Rockies today - I sure hope we get more!

[Pilgrim]

We're finally getting some rain here - which may help.

But you gotta sigh heavily about this....there's enough rain that we now have flash flood warnings in the burn area.  Nothing to hold the moisture.

Some days you just can't win.

[Highlander]

Unbelievably it has not even grazed the news here...

Newest weather for here is serious flooding in the borders area with two significant landslides that have cut off both the primary train routes for England/Scotland...

[Highlander]

Just gone midnight here so it's Saturday morning and this has just made it's first appearance as a headline...

[nofi]

103 degrees in atlanta today.

[Pilgrim]

We have 85% fire containment today next to Fort Collins - may hit full containment this weekend. 

[Dave W]

That's good. It sounds like they may be close to turning the corner in Colo. Springs too.

[Pilgrim]

Last night when I hit the sack, I heard 93% containment.  The High Park fire evidently destroyed 259 homes.

The pix coming out of Colorado Springs are startling - neighborhoods wiped out and just left as grey smudges...




Amazing how some houses were saved and others next door were lost...

[Nocturnal]

I am glad to hear that it is mostly contained now. We deal with fires here all summer too. I feel for the families that will have to deal with the loss of both homes and belongings. That can't be easy to deal with.

[Pilgrim]

About 2/3 of the US has temps at 100 degrees F and higher.  In addition to the 8 fires in Colorado I'm starting to read about fires in other Western states, and I think the firefighters are going to be busy all summer.  It's also going to be a very expensive summer for the Forest Service and other firefighting agencies.

[dadagoboi]

About 2/3 of the US has temps at 100 degrees F and higher.  In addition to the 8 fires in Colorado I'm starting to read about fires in other Western states, and I think the firefighters are going to be busy all summer.  It's also going to be a very expensive summer for the Forest Service and other firefighting agencies.

Rivers haven't crested here yet post Debby and the death toll is around 8.  Today we may see a heat index of 108, it's already at 94 at 1PM.  Shaping up as a long hot summer and that breeds serious hurricanes.  Last night's storm which walloped the Mid Atlantic was directly related to the record temps.