Things you don't want to see from your rooftop....

[ibglowin]

And no thats not a big thunderhead......

This is the "South Fork" fire which blew up big time today. Its burned close to 10,000 acres in one week and is only roughly 25% contained. Its about 30 miles away from my house.

 

[xanxer82]

Good luck, stay safe. Got all the brush cleared?

 

[Wade E]

Better water those grape vines more!

 

[ibglowin]

Yea, I'm pretty seasoned after the "Cerro Grande" fire back in 2000.......

The Forest Service lit a "controlled burn" up in the mountains that got "out of control" and nearly burned the whole frickin town and a National Laboratory to the ground......

This one is just a baby in comparison and its headed away from us thank goodness.

Still its so sad to see it all go up again and again and again each year. This was a man made fire as well. The forest will be back 100 times better, just not in my lifetime.......

 

[Runningwolf]

Wow mike, Sorry to see that. Makes me appreciate all the green grass and trees around my house. Worse comes to worse you can alwayslet the Skeeters out LOL.

 

[Waldo]

Does the Forrest service cover the cost of all the damages they cause?

 

[ibglowin]

Well technically not the Forest Service but.......FEMA did and we all know how well FEMA performs......... It took some people years to settle as they kept trying to short change them. They all ended up with new homes but they lost all their stuff. All their memories so to speak.

I think all in all around 350,000 acres of forest land was burned and around 125 homes were burned to the ground.

They (the Forest Service) actually started the fire in May 2000. Anyone who has lived in this part of country knows that May is usually WINDY and dry. You should NOT be lighting any fires in May. October maybe, not May. They sent 5 guys with around 10 gallons of water on their backs to keep the fire under control. They used up all their water in just a few hours. After that it was a complete train wreck. There was no stopping it. Here is a pic of the road that leads up to the ski hill (which was thankfully spared).

The forest is coming back (slowly) and what was once mainly a ponderosa pine forest is now coming back as an aspen forest. Aspen spread via roots underground and thus they were more protected.