Wild fires in Colorado Springs

[peacefulveglady]

Have anyone heard about the fires in Colorado springs Colorado?

I seen some images I am amazed that people are able to get out so quickly

Colorado springs fires

 

[Forster]

I hadn't heard about Colorado.

It's going to be a bad, bad year for fires out west this summer. They're just getting started... got a long way to go till fall. It's been unseasonably hot and worse, windy, drying everything out big time combined with all the beetle killed trees there is no way they will be able to put them out in a lot/most areas.

 

[rockette79]

There are a dozen wildfires burning in CO right now. The one near me is the 2nd largest and the most costly wildfire in CO history. There are so many people who have lost their homes and more to come. It is a sad time in the western US.

 

[MrsSchu2u]

Be safe, Rockette. I have lots of friends in Colorado, so I've been keeping up to date.

 

[mlp]

Yes, I think it's going to be a really bad year for fires. It makes me sick for everyone, not the least, all of the animals.

Even here in the Midwest, it's been an incredibly dry year - hardly any precipitation through the winter and spring. The soil had deep cracks already in the very early spring, and I can't remember a year that I've seen that so early - it's typically July or August here before those deep cracks make an appearance, even in dry years.

 

[uno]

the Colorado Springs fires are so bad. 35000 evacuated. so sad. we had a fire yesterday two miles from our house. Luckily, the wildland fighters got it under control. it's such a tinderbox here currently. and the 4th of July is not even here yet. ugh.

I had my wife pack up valuables yesterday. they were giving 5 minute evacuations.

 

[Forster]

Yes, I think it's going to be a really bad year for fires. It makes me sick for everyone, not the least, all of the animals.

I do feel bad for the animals, however, in the long run, fire is a necessary part of the renewal of the forest (pine) ecosystem. It opens up huge swaths of land that support much more wildlife than before. IIRC from my college biology class, lodge pole forests burn on average of every 80 years and is necessary to both remove old and dying trees and to release the pine trees seeds. Part of the problem (an also why the Yellowstone fires were so bad in 88) was decades of fighting fires to where the fuel built up so bad it was an inferno. I'll take pictures next time I'm in the park of the regrowth in the previously burned areas, it's quite impressive. I might even be able to dig up pictures from 88 from our honeymoon in the park that lasted all of one day before the closed it down for good.

 

[Forster]

the Colorado Springs fires are so bad. 35000 evacuated. so sad. we had a fire yesterday two miles from our house. Luckily, the wildland fighters got it under control. it's such a tinderbox here currently. and the 4th of July is not even here yet. ugh.

I had my wife pack up valuables yesterday. they were giving 5 minute evacuations.

Oh that sucks, better to be prepared though.

 

[uno]

I do feel bad for the animals, however, in the long run, fire is a necessary part of the renewal of the forest (pine) ecosystem. It opens up huge swaths of land that support much more wildlife than before. IIRC from my college biology class, lodge pole forests burn on average of every 80 years and is necessary to both remove old and dying trees and to release the pine trees seeds. Part of the problem (an also why the Yellowstone fires were so bad in 88) was decades of fighting fires to where the fuel built up so bad it was an inferno. I'll take pictures next time I'm in the park of the regrowth in the previously burned areas, it's quite impressive. I might even be able to dig up pictures from 88 from our honeymoon in the park that lasted all of one day before the closed it down for good.

Very true.

i was talking to someone about this very issue and they were shocked that it's a good thing long term.

 

[mlp]

Oh, yes, I know that part of the reason we have had such bad fires is because we haven't permitted the *natural* burns.