Pine Gulch Fire becomes 4th largest
individual fire in Colorado history, burning
over 73,000 acres
KDVR (Denver),
by
Staff
Original Article
Posted By: zephyrgirl,
8/14/2020 11:33:44 AM
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — The Pine Gulch Fire burning north of Grand Junction has grown to 73,381 acres as of Friday morning, making it the fourth largest largest individual wildfire ever recorded in Colorado. Colorado’s largest wildfire ever was the Hayman Fire in 2002, which scorched more than 137,000 acres. The Pine Gulch fire is burning about 18 miles north of Grand Junction in Mesa and Garfield counties. It started July 31 and was caused by lightning. Nearly 800 people are fighting the fire. It is currently 7% contained. Crews are dealing with extremely challenging firefighting conditions. Corrections*
*Headline split code corrected. Source removed from Intro.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Dodge Boy 8/14/2020 12:04:59 PM (No. 509852)
We are burning up on the west slope of Colorado. The smoke from the Pine Gulch fire drifting mostly east but our home is in Redlands area of Grand Junction so only getting light smoke when the wind shifts from north. Bad enough though.
No appreciable precip since March. 100-degree high temps day after day now. So far, the Colorado National Monument and the Grand Mesa have escaped fire. But, for how long. Humidity is so low (5%), that not even getting clouds and dry lightening anymore. I believe the Grizzly Creek fire was arson - ecoterrorism is suspected. The Pine Gulch fire was started by lightening. A prayer to God our Savior - make it rain bigly.
7 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
DVC 8/14/2020 12:21:46 PM (No. 509877)
I hope that they can get this under control. These are horrific things. Good luck to the people living in those areas, and with vacation cabins there. The wild country fire fighters are amazing people, real heroes.
The fire that burned several hundred homes in southern Colorado in 2018, the Spring Creek Fire, burned well over 100,000 acres. Caused by an illegal alien druggie from the Netherlands, it was stopped after 15 miles of progress over mountains and meadows two hundred yards from our vacation cabin.
And even after the fire is all gone, the dramatically increased rain runoff causes erosion, washes out roads, and the forest is terribly ugly for a long time. But, the forest will rebound.
The aspens are leaping upwards, the roots survive the fires in most cases, send up a literal forest of new shoots, about three feet tall now and the fireweed and other wildflowers are blooming heavily. But the forest will take decades to recover in these dry, cold climates where the growing season is short.
2 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
DVC 8/14/2020 12:23:15 PM (No. 509879)
Surprising, #1. We were at our cabin just behind the front range in southern Colorado for three weeks about a week ago, and it rained nearly every day, very unusually high rainfall for this time of year, normally pretty dry.
Several days it rained hard all day.
1 person likes this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Dodge Boy 8/14/2020 12:26:26 PM (No. 509885)
Please send it north, #3.
3 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
karo 8/14/2020 12:57:14 PM (No. 509938)
It's very smoky in Denver today, the worst it's been (it's been steadily worsening all week). Hot (96 degrees) and dry. I'd love some rain so much.
3 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Lizzyboo 8/14/2020 1:14:44 PM (No. 509955)
#1. I too Iive in Grand Junction in the Fruitvale area. The smoke was so bad that it woke me up at 3 a.m. I thought our house was on fire. I checked all the rooms and even stepped outside to be certain our neighborhood was not ablaze. (I moved from the Redlands 2 years ago). The fire has blown up to over 71,000 acres with 7% containment. God bless the fire crews.
2 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
bldrrepub 8/14/2020 1:45:47 PM (No. 509998)
Front Range foothills here. The sun appears like a deep red disk at sunset and The Divide is obscured by smoke. I've been doing fire mitigation on the property since I moved here. It never ends. Best wishes for you guys on the western slope.
2 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
or gate 8/14/2020 7:20:01 PM (No. 510277)
Is it burning up because the firefighters are playing liberal politics.
0 people like this.
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Comments:
The Denver area is one big smoke cloud from this and other fires in the state.