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Subscribe to RSSA northern Colorado wildfire that scorched about 85 square miles destroyed at least 181 homes, making it the most destructive blaze in the state’s history, officials told NBC station KUSA of Denver Saturday.
Additional crews arrived Saturday, joining more than 1,500 personnel working on the fire about 15 miles west of Fort Collins. The lightning-caused blaze was reported June 9 and was 20 percent contained by Saturday evening, Laramie County officials said.
Fire information officer Brett Haberstick said hot and dry weather is expected to continue, but crews have made progress in containing a 200-acre spot fire north of the Cache La Poudre River, a critical line of defense against northward growth.
The September 2010 Four Mile Canyon fire burned more than 6,300 acres and destroyed a total of 169 homes, NBC station KUSA of Denver reported. The 2002 Hayman fire destroyed 133 homes and burned 138,000 acres of forest.
U.S. Forest Service via The Denver Post
The Forest Service says lightning struck this tree, starting the High Park fire in Larimer County.
On Saturday morning a firefighter on scene was airlifted to a hospital because of a pre-existing condition. The firefighter is stable and the condition is non-life threatening.
Fire officials told KUSA the cost of the fire was estimated at $9.1 million.
Of the 3,000 notifications sent out for evacuations since the fire started, 1,187 of those have been lifted, KUSA said.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who oversees the Forest Service, met with fire managers in Fort Collins on Saturday and said "fighting this fire is going to require us to be aggressive, persistent and also patient.
"We're going to continue to work to make our forests more resilient. We're going to continue to ensure that adequate resources are provided for fighting fires and we are going to continue to make sure that we encourage appropriate stewardship of our forests," he said.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
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Pray for the safety of the brave men and women fighting this fire, I have a friend who's son is in a Black Hat crew fighting this fire.
I think they are lucky they don't live in New Mexico........The pine beetles are only part of the problem. The other half is low rainfall. If the trees had enough water, the beetles would not kill them.
Let it burn...it's not only killing the beatles and clearing the way for new growth, it's running off the people who don't belong there.......
Who didn't belong there .... ??
Isn't it funnyy how that rock group changed the spelling of beetles for the uneducated?
Meanwhile not only do pople loss their homes but so much wood that could be used to lower home prices goes up in smoke - so much lost unnecesssarily because Environmentalists won't allow us to manage the forests!
Wow - that was hilarious, Watermoon!! You talk about changing the spelling of "beetles for the uneducated." Did you change the spelling of people and funny for the uneducated as well? or is this a case of people (or is it pople) living in glass houses? This is really funny (or is that spelled funnyy)!!
You're right I goofed...It's Beetles not Beatles.... And when I refered to "people who don't belong there" I ment the human race in general, Down thru history we've destroyed everything we've touched. Now we're moving in on the Mountains, Forcing the animals who live there to move into the cities, where many have have had to be destroyed, The Moutains belong to the bears, and other wild life, not us....
C.A. ...What about the wildlife that lives on the prairie? We don't belong there either. On the water(?)...nope...can't live there, aquatic life is endangered by us fools. In the clouds(?)...we'd be in the way of the birds! I think we should all just jump off the planet...don't you? After all...WE surely don't belong on this planet : ) Oooopps, I'm using electricity made by fossil fuel dug from the ground and shipped by those dastardly trains traveling through/across/on those tracks made of steel dug from the ground and timbers cut from the forest and soaked in hydrocarbons sucked from mother earth...I'm such a sinner!
...quick, everyone stop breathing so the bugs have more air!!!
Unless you believe in population control, we the people will continue to grow in population and need more space to live and harvest. If these areas were allowed to be harvested, we likely would not have this problem. You do seem to be an extreme enviroMENTAL wack. If you believe for one second the animals are more important than the people that make you extreme in my book. It is the peoples forest. I pay taxes, the bears and the fish do not. :)-
Why don't they belong there? If they purchased the land and built homes on it then what is the problem? You will have to educate me. I am not a native. I have only lived here in CO for 6 years. Maybe I am not familiar with rules of territory. I lived in an apartment for a few years before purchasing a home here. Beautiful state and I love the cool temperatures.
MSNBC let's get it right, It.s LARIMER county Colo.
really plus the idiots at msn dont know south from north . you can tell they support oduma
Hey msnbc! It's LARIMER county, Co.
FYI IT,s LARIMER County,Co.
You'll be waiting all night for that one ....
It does say Larimer County under the small photo of the lightning struck tree ....
As has been pointed out, it is Larimer county. Laramie county is in Wyoming
The forest can be a volatile place to live when it comes to fires. You can plan ahead by cutting trees back and keeping stored water for your roof but fires are unpredictable when they have a plentiful fuel source like a dry forest. Pray for these people with no homes, they have hard days ahead.
Instead of trying to put out the fire they should be cutting down trees (especially pines) near the housing areas and doing controlled burns there and also burning the lawns and foundation plantings. This makes more sense than trying to stop the fires. The fire men are trying to shovel sand against the tides using pitchforks. If i were a homeowner I would have two cahin saws and a propane weed burner and the moment i heard about a fire heading MY way i would cut every tree in my yard and burn the whole lawn and equip myself witha full face gas mask and stay on my roof with a graden hose. To do otherwise is just plain dumb. A fire like this is not likely but I have two gas and one electric chain saw at the ready blus two weed burners if a fire ever threatened my house. Making a new lawn is cheap and planting new shrubs is cheap. Replacing a house and contents and autos is not.
But then embers flying in the wind would start your cedar shake roof on fire.
Most homes in this area have stopped the shake shingle. People just have no idea how fires burn jhere. The flames are in teh crowns of the trees and reach 300 feet in height. Clearing around homes makes them more defensible but not fire proof.
Another reason the freakin' tree huggers should STFU. "Let's not cut down that dead tree because the owl will have to move to another one. Let's not get rid of that dead underbrush because that family of beetle's will have to go somewhere else" say's the "Hugger". And just maybe, those unfortunate individuals who have lost their homes, will think twice about building in a fire prone area. Please be safe and do the smart thing....DON"T REBUILD IN FIRE PRONE AREAS.
So, Carl...by your logic no one should live in an earth quake zone, or a flood plain, or a coastal area, what about hurricanes, tornado's, floods, blizzards, tsunami's, drought. You are actually sounding alot like the same tree hugger's that you condem.
When one chooses to move "into the forest" for their piece of heaven one needs to understand mother nature is the ruler. Forest fires happen and when you live in the middle of the woods your house just tends to go up with the trees. This is sad but very predictable.
Same is true for the person who chooses to live into the "big city" where crime is much more rampant. Sad but predictable. Suffering cannot be escaped. We can only try to ameliorate it.
Pay back time from Mother Nature.There was no help for the
True Americans when they were burnt out and their land
stolen from them, no help.
Nina cC
Everyone is in it alone when face to face with a massive forest fire. There is a moment when nothing else matters. Prepare best one can and plan for fire fighting action. Convert that dump truck to water truck test it out know the limits. Check with your ranch insurance people for wipe out coverage. And save the animals and just re-build if it comes down to it. This could be a fire storm not seen in many eras.
People are finally beginnig to talk about managing the forests but the environmentalists are forming their ranks. Ponderosa Pines are huge trees with no branches on the lower 30 feet but dead trees lie around their base and burn until the big tree catches fire. We have to remove that slash. And when I thinned my ponderosas so that there were five in a stand where once there were ten, the trees actually spit the pine beetle out. They were not stressed from overgrowth and could protect themselves.
Let lumber companies into the National Forests but regulate them. Let them thin the forests but have them also clean the slash. And make sure it is thinning and not clear cutting. FIres will still occur but not be nearly so intense. And the dirt roads they build to access the trees will act as fire breaks as well as allow firefighters easier access to the fires. The Interior Department was once the only governmental department that made a profit and it could again. It will also add jobs. ANd it willl reduce the fire potential. Win-win for everyone - even the environmentalists, if they would onlyy pasue a moment and think! Just imagine how much CO2 is spewing into the air right now because of this fire!
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Watermoon, I'm guessing you own a Colorado logging company.
Um...am I the only person that saw the terrorist warning that claimed "they" would be going around and starting fires where it would be difficult to control the damage and yet there would be a lot of damage to homes? I just wish they'd at least speculate how these fires are starting, put some of our minds to ease a little....
And the warning was specifically areas like CO, WY, UT, etc. At least they had it on the news out here in Southern Utah, the head of the fire dept was talking about it..
I have a good idea, start at one end of the National Forest and start cutting. Eventually cut all the trees down. It would create jobs and lower lumber prices and it would be easier to hunt elk and deer, they wouldn't be able to hide. And terrorist wouldn't have anything to burn.
Why were all of the comments from last night deleted? There was some very insightful information in those posts. Particular the parts pointing out that the fact that fire is a natural way of life for the forests around here. Constantly putting out the fires just means there will even be more fuel for the next fire...assuring a fiercer blaze.
It is a shame that this is what it takes for environmentalist and tree huggers to see their error. These wacky radicals are the ones resposible for this disaster. We need to manage our natural recources, log these forest everywhere we can in the country. If you log the forest reasonably, there is little to no impact. You eliminate the infestiation of bugs, you create roads to access the PUBLICS land. If there is a fire you can respond quickly. If you let the environMENTAL wacks continue to mis manage the forest across the nation, I promise this will keep on happening. The forest have not been properly managed since the early 80's. I do pray for the lives of the people directly impacted by these fires. Hopefully common sense will kick in now and prevent this from happening elseware soon.
Not sure how they define "most destructive". A fire back in 1910 burned 3 MILLION acres.
http://pielkeclimatesci.wordpress.com/2012/06/15/the-great-fire-of-1910-places-the-current-2012-fire-season-in-perspective/
Or this 1898 fire that was hundreds of times bigger than the current fire.
http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2012/06/15/the-fort-collins-2012-mega-fire/