I forgot my other personal bitch in relation to bushfires. Those idiots who think it’s a great idea to get in their cars and “go have a look at the fires”. If you aren’t part of the emergency services, you aren’t only impeding their access to the site, you’re also endangering your own lives and those of others because someone will have to come and rescue you should you get trapped in the fire.
Ohhhh… now the city of monument, (which is North of C springs) is under alert for evacuation.
God help us all.
I found this quote, and felt prompted to put it here.
“The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of moral crisis, preserve their neutrality.” -Dante
I can’t think of anything to say except that our thoughts are with you. This will pass. Let’s all hope it passes quickly and without loss of life.
I saw that on the news while babysitting.
Palmer Lake and Monument (but only west of I-25) are under stand-by, bordered to the south by the Air Force Academy. They said that there is a possibility that the fire will reach them by midnight.
When you look at the foothills, it’s almost like there are three separate plumes coming out of the area.
I really wish I knew what the fuck was going through that woman’s head. It’s not only threatened Denver outlying areas, it’s threatening our area.
Geezus.
Yeah… I remember looking outside, NOT smelling smoke and thinking everything was okay. Then I saw the plooms over the mountain and still thought it wasn’t threatening.
Then I heard about monument.
Where do we go if we evacuate?
Pathos, believe me on this one - there will be specific evacuation plans in action. Normally it’s a large centre not directly threatened by the fire but reasonably close by. One reason they ask people to evacuate to the same place is so they can keep track of who is safe and who might not have got out in time.
If you guys get a chance, please keep us up to date with what’s going on.
I’m gonna unhide my email address while this is happening, in case you guys need anything when I’m not online.
Stay safe. 
Thanks Reprise I just posted that in case techchick heard anything of that nature, and that way I could be prepared ahead of time if it came to that.
Whatever you do, if the order is given to evacuate do not leave deciding to go until the last minute. Be ready to evacuate as soon as the order is given, or be prepared to stay and defend your home - people who change their minds at the last moment create havoc for emergency services.
If you have pets, think NOW about whether you can take them with you and if not what you’re going to do with them when you leave.
I don’t want to tax the server by calling up the threads from last summer’s thread, but there WAS an excellent thread last summer titled something along the lines of “you have 5 minutes to evacuate, what do you take?”.
Here’s hoping that you don’t get the order to leave. Have you got a battery operated radio?
I assume that Canada offers the US assistance with firefighting in situations like these, and I’m really surprised there’s been no mention of our fire crews heading over there as yet. Does this mean that the State of Colorado is still hoping to bring these fires under control with their current personnel and equipment, or are they expecting such a bad fire season that they’ll hold off requests for assistance as long as they can?
Good fuck. The FBI and the Forest Service just said on the radio that they absoutely do not believe the “Aaaawww. My fewilngs wewr huwt by da big bad bweak-up letter” story.
Apparently from the way the early fire spread and other evidence that they’re not releasing yet, the firebug apparently set the fire intentionally with the intention of putting it out to be a BIG HERO!
Bitch.
Actually, there has been help from all around the country, but I’m not sure about Canada.
My computer is having problems opening sites, (otherwise I would paste a URL) but one report is that they don’t expect the fire to be extinguished until the fall, and that they’re just hoping they can contain it from doing extensive damage.
Thats another reason why I’m curious about the evac plans. I have two cats, and am prepared to take them, but don’t know if I can.
I just want to cry for you guys. 
TLD pointed out earlier that it isn’t unknown here for people to start fires for the express purpose of being a “hero”. Thankfully it happens rarely, but I can’t imagine how those risking their lives to fight these fires and those who’ve lost their homes feel about this woman.
I just want to cry for you guys.
TLD pointed out earlier that it isn’t unknown here for people to start fires for the express purpose of being a “hero”. Thankfully it happens rarely, but I can’t imagine how those risking their lives to fight these fires and those who’ve lost their homes feel about this woman.
Pathros,
You and I live pretty much in the heart of C Springs. No one can be completely certain but if the fires advanced to our city, I suspect that Ft. Carson and Pete Field along with the National Guard would be dispatched simply because of the dense population here, same goes for the southwest end of Denver. There would be considerable financial loss (thinking of business on the northwest side of town and expensive homes up there) and possibly great loss of life. Different than smaller places like Woodland Park and those outlying areas, if a massive fire were to advance upon a city I am reasonably certain that efforts would be stepped up very dramatically not only by Governor Owens but also by the feds since we are in effect, a military town. The logistics of evacuating a city the size of C Springs or the southwestern edges of Denver would be a flippin nightmare.
The Forest Service has no specific information regarding the time frame to get rid of this fire, they simply state as of this writing that containment date is unkown. They also have downgraded the containment from 47% to 40%.
BTW, it was later revealed that the El Paso County Sheriff’s Dept was not involved in the Palmer Lake/Monument stand-by for evacs. This was solely the decision of those in the Tri-Lakes Fire District. They did put residents near Rampart Range Road on stand-by though.
Tomorrow should be another interesting day with humidities in the single digits, winds that we have been getting as they issued another Red Flag day for tomorrow through 6:00 local time.
Oy, that bitch. I can’t believe this, I just can’t understand how someone could be so God Damned stupid for whatever God Damned reason she had. Un-fucking-believable. (My apologies to God for using God’s name in vain but sometimes correct words fail me.)
I think the only that that we can do is wait, see what happens, and be prepared for the worse.
BTW reprise,
The Federal Government has been working well with the State of Colorado. Since our governor announced Colorado a “Disaster Area” a while back, the Feds have been very understanding.
Even before this incident, they were working with the agricultural communities to offer low interest loans to the farmers and ranchers because of the drought.
Essentially, from what I recall, the Feds have promised 75% relief of the total cost of this. Which, considering they do squeeze money from tax payers and most of the land that has been burned so far has been Federal Government lands, it only seems fair that they should take a huge brundt of the cost.
Now that a federal employee is charged with the fire, I am almost thinking they should bear it all. But that’s just me. I wont go into my political issues here as that’s not the point of this thread however it is reportedly an employee that was entrusted to care for the lands and she started it…somehow I think the the feds should cover it all should she be found guilty for this.
One thing about the US is there is a inter-agency fire resource based out of Idaho. If I am remembering correctly, it’s basically a one stop resource for all that are involved in forest lands (Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, local and state land management and fire departments of all sizes.) This, I believe was set up especially because of problems like this, mass fires. They help to coordinate what resources are best used where .
I can’t see, unless the fire season becomes where, that we would really need outside help. We have a lot of population here compared to Canada and Canada does have it’s own fires going from what I have read. I would hate for us to ask Canada for resources that they may need just as much as we do.
As a 33 year old, smoker and out of shape citizen, I wouldn’t be a candidate for fighting the fires but I could easily help out in support in other ways. If my city or state asked for more help to cook, clean the firefighters clothes or whatever, I would do it. I think with the impact this has had on the people of Colorado, I would imagine that there are a lot more out there like me including people who have the physical qualifications and would be willing to work on the front lines after some training.
Okay. I’m now feeling pretty bad about posting my squirrel story earlier in this thread. When I did, that was the last day that the fire was even looking like they might control it. I think it was 47% contained.
When this woman had just set a fire to burn a letter, I thought, “What a hypocrite. Way to do your job, slick.” But I had a smidge of sympathy because, I thought to myself, “This was, to some small extent, an accident.” I wanted her to have to get up every morning and plant trees for 12 hours.
Now that I know she may have set it, I don’t know what I want to happen to her. But I am very upset.
Best of luck this season, Colorado, and the same to the rest of the West.
And Midwest, may your water come our way.
http://www.gazette.com/stories/images/0618map7pm.jpg
This is a graphic of the fire as 3:00 PM today… and as you can imagine its already out of “date.”
(just posted this so you can see the picture)
Pathos,
I am going back to an earlier post of yours
Chances are we will not be required to evacuate. I go back to the idea that we are in the heart of the city. If they asked us to evac, I would assume it would be points south like Fountain to Pueblo or Denver or Limon or whatever.
Again, I don’t believe that it’s a possibility that we, on the north end, will be evacuated. I would think that the Peregrin, Rockrimmon, Mountain Shadows and other places west and northwest of us would be evac. if the fires threatens our city.
I honestly don’t think we have much to worry about. Yes, it’s very scary, very freaky but I hope you understand that it would be a MAJOR, MAJOR event if the fires came this far southeast from the main fire zone. I truly believe that if the fires were to threaten serious population like C Springs or Southwest Denver the governments already have those plans figured out.
Don’t worry about it, go about your daily life and pray for those in the path of this bullshit.
Also, if you notice someone shooting off fireworks, throwing cigs out of their car or whatever other behavior would spark fires in our area, please notify the police immediately. We all need to be aware of what’s going on around us and if someone is acting in a serious manner, don’t hesitate to report them immediately.
Or wasting water like morons…
For you dopers who don’t know, C Springs is also having a major water shortage and very soon might be doing “rolling water stoppages.” Still people don’t get a clue cause everywhere I look I see water wasted.
Man this has been one helluva summer so far.