GatewayRedbirds.com

This is why I'm glad live by, but not in, the mountains. The Dome Fire broke out in the Boulder foothills this morning - some people are being evacuated for the second time in 2 months. We have friends who are just outside the evac zone, so if it expands much at all, we could have some overnight company tonight.

Pretty cool google maps thingie though.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8& ... urce=embed

Was reading this article the other day, about wildfires
and then saw this story today.

Two killed, 360 homes destroyed

http://deadspin.com/colorado-forest-fir ... socialflow

fires are a fact of life in the west. When a wildfire gets to be a certain size it creates its own weather, which is kind of cool actually. The years we spent in Boise it was just a rite of summer. You'd see those clouds all the time.

[rant]
Which gets me to another topic- the constant coverage of wildfires as disasters grates on me. Wildfires are part of the ecosystem life cylce out there. Many species of plant need fire to germinate their seeds. Its the stupid people who figure they can plop down their no-worries suburban life style into that environment and get away with it that are the problem. You want to live out in the country in the West? Well then protect your house from the inevitable. There's ways to increase the odds of your house surviving a wild fire. If you aren't prepared for that, live in a yurt or a teepee and shut the hell up.
[/rant]

Joe Shlabotnik wrote:fires are a fact of life in the west. When a wildfire gets to be a certain size it creates its own weather, which is kind of cool actually. The years we spent in Boise it was just a rite of summer. You'd see those clouds all the time.

[rant]
Which gets me to another topic- the constant coverage of wildfires as disasters grates on me. Wildfires are part of the ecosystem life cylce out there. Many species of plant need fire to germinate their seeds. Its the stupid people who figure they can plop down their no-worries suburban life style into that environment and get away with it that are the problem. You want to live out in the country in the West? Well then protect your house from the inevitable. There's ways to increase the odds of your house surviving a wild fire. If you aren't prepared for that, live in a yurt or a teepee and shut the hell up.
[/rant]

Yep. Same with people in major floodplains, really.

Joe Shlabotnik wrote:fires are a fact of life in the west. When a wildfire gets to be a certain size it creates its own weather, which is kind of cool actually. The years we spent in Boise it was just a rite of summer. You'd see those clouds all the time.

[rant]
Which gets me to another topic- the constant coverage of wildfires as disasters grates on me. Wildfires are part of the ecosystem life cylce out there. Many species of plant need fire to germinate their seeds. Its the stupid people who figure they can plop down their no-worries suburban life style into that environment and get away with it that are the problem. You want to live out in the country in the West? Well then protect your house from the inevitable. There's ways to increase the odds of your house surviving a wild fire. If you aren't prepared for that, live in a yurt or a teepee and shut the hell up.
[/rant]

I agree with your rant -the bad media coverage**, and fire being part of the ecosystem*.

*though ecosystem is being whacked out by climate change (less rain, higher temps).


**Yeah the media coverage trivializes it for a show. However - the wildfire problem does seem to be getting worse.

[SHOW]

http://www.eastoregonian.com/photos_vid ... f887a.html

Another stat I saw recently - the large majority of wildfires are started by non natural causes (not by lightning, but by humans - arson, campfires, pranks, cigarette butts, sparks from trains or machinery etc etc) So as more people move out there, plus the accumulated timber and dead trees from bug infestation, plus the higher temps less rain - the wildfire problem becomes greater.

trill wrote:http://deadspin.com/colorado-forest-fir ... socialflow

I feel badly about the devastation, but this also proves the power of baseball to keep chaos at bay.

trill wrote:http://deadspin.com/colorado-forest-fir ... socialflow

That doesn't look like a very effective batter's eye. Quite the opposite, actually.

Radbird wrote: ↑

October 29 10, 3:50 pm

This is why I'm glad live by, but not in, the mountains. The Dome Fire broke out in the Boulder foothills this morning - some people are being evacuated for the second time in 2 months. We have friends who are just outside the evac zone, so if it expands much at all, we could have some overnight company tonight.

This post from 2010 really stands out today as one of those youneverknow moments.

First, I need to caveat this to say that we no longer live in Colorado and are safely tucked away in New Hampshire.

It’s possible that the home we lived in Superior is gone. If you look at the map, you’ll see a Starbucks at the bottom, then a Safeway above it and our house above that. On the picture, the green line shows where the Starbucks is, with Safeway in the background and the homes burning behind it - right where our house is (or was). All of our old neighbors got out safely, once it’s light out they’ll be able to see what’s left. Snow coming today which should help knock the fire down. Unbelievable devastation.

That's nutso