Colorado wildfires

[carmen]

We do not have any close friends or family there but we have a few online friends that have moved out of the area just to be safe. Wildfires scare the jibbies out of me and I am not sure if that is something I could handle as a home owner, blessing sent to everyone dealing with these right now.

[ppine]

I used to live in Golden, CO and ran some logging crews in beetle killed stands of lodgepole pine around the state with contracts with the CO Dept of Forestry. The whole state would benefit from increased harvesting to alleviate the overstocked stands (overcrowded) of lodgepole and other species. Lower stocking rates would alleviate a lot of the stress and mortality from insects and disease that is exascerbated by drought. Fire seasons like this one are a given, it is a question of when and what we do to minimize the damage. Fuel reduction near residences is grossly under-funded in the US. We spend lots of money on fire supression and rehab, but pitifully little on reducing the fire danger in the first place.

I took a tour yesterday of a neighboring drainage, Fish Springs Valley with rural mountain residences in pinyon-juniper stands. After our two recent fires, I wanted to see if anyone decided to reduce fuels on their acreages. I found one guy that thinned his 5 acres or so. I found more than 25 residences with pinyon and juniper trees growing right up next to the houses in dense stands. If you were a firefighter, which house would you try to save?

[Marshmallow]

We would all do well to inspect what is growing around our houses. We have lots of pines and pine straw used as mulch. It's not been a problem in the past, but I see how it's not the wisest use of that material.

[Judy Ann]

Originally Posted by Grandpa

Son has been breathing smoke for two weeks now at Ft Collins. So they are headed for the nice fresh air here tonight.

But we had a fire about a mile from me this week, burned about 500 acres of Junipers and sage.

A fire started near Pocatello, Id yesterday at 2:30 pm and by this morning had taken out 66 homes and is going strong.

This is early in the year for wildfires. We normally don't start getting them until the end of July. Gonna be a hot summer for sure.

I'm glad you all are staying safe. I can't believe that the fire was so close to your place. Is your son's home out of danger yet? Our firefighters have their hands full this year!

[Pathfinder1]

ppine;
I used to live in Golden, CO and an some logging crews in beetle killed stands of lodgepole pine around the state with contracts with the CO Dept of Forestry. The whole state would benefit from increased harvesting to alleviate the overstocked stands (overcrowded) of lodgepole and other species. Lower stocking rates would alleviate a lot of the stress and mortality from insects and disease that is exascerbated by drought. Fire seasons like this one are a given, it is a question of when and what we do to minimize the damage. Fuel reduction near residences is grossly under-funded in the US. We spend lots of money on fire supression and rehab, but pitifully little on reducing the fire danger in the first place.

I took a tour yesterday of a neighboring drainage, Fish Springs Valley with rural mountain residences in pinyon-juniper stands. After our two recent fires, I wanted to see if anyone decided to reduce fuels on their acreages. I found one guy that thinned his 5 acres or so. I found more than 25 residences with pinyon and juniper trees growing right up next to the houses in dense stands. If you were a firefighter, which house would you try to save?




Hi...


As we can see, some people just can't learn. You make some excellent points there.

Perhaps if the underwriters actually inspected the properties...??