Wildfire rages through Boulder area. Jenny Simpson's house may burn down (video)

Rob de Castella lost everything in wildfires in 2003. Hopefully Jenny (and everyone else in the area) fares better.

NachoLibre wrote:

1500 acre fire taking 500 homes? That's a big planning fail. Maybe you mean 150,000 acres?

Regardless, hoping everybody is safe.

do you know how cities work?

BigJackCity wrote:

Fire hydrants in Louisville are running out of water. =0

I've read that forest management is also to blame--a lot of dead trees are left there instead of being removed, so in drought conditions there is more tinder.

I feel horrible about this. Sudden and a perfect storm of conditions: drought, high winds and the foothills of Boulder, with some flat areas were affected.

LetsRun26.2anon wrote:

This breaks my heart that this fire is already over 1500 acres and taken 500 home, which will grow to over 1000 homes. This reminds me of the flood that destroyed Boulder in 2013.

Someone I talked to is upset at the governments and homebuilders who allowed homes to be built in this area. I told him that how were they to know that this would happen years after the homes were built?

Aren't the usual fire hazard areas west of Denver in the mountains?

huh? ? wrote:

NachoLibre wrote:

1500 acre fire taking 500 homes? That's a big planning fail. Maybe you mean 150,000 acres?

Regardless, hoping everybody is safe.

do you know how cities work?

Not according to you, I am sure, How do cities work?

jecht wrote:

BigJackCity wrote:

Fire hydrants in Louisville are running out of water. =0

I've read that forest management is also to blame--a lot of dead trees are left there instead of being removed, so in drought conditions there is more tinder.

I feel horrible about this. Sudden and a perfect storm of conditions: drought, high winds and the foothills of Boulder, with some flat areas were affected.

Either you are being facetious or this is stated out of pure ignorance. There are relatively few trees in these areas. It is not a forest, but a prairie/suburban area.

Coyote Montane wrote:

jecht wrote:

I've read that forest management is also to blame--a lot of dead trees are left there instead of being removed, so in drought conditions there is more tinder.

I feel horrible about this. Sudden and a perfect storm of conditions: drought, high winds and the foothills of Boulder, with some flat areas were affected.

Either you are being facetious or this is stated out of pure ignorance. There are relatively few trees in these areas. It is not a forest, but a prairie/suburban area.

Pure ignorance, I have no honest idea what the area is like. Thank you for clarifying it (no sarcasm).

That's what is shocking, that a grass fire destroyed so many buildings. The California fires are very different and usually get old buildings in heavily timbered areas, trees, or at least very heavy dried brush. There have been some exceptions, but that's the norm. We have lots of fire-hardening codes for the house and defensible space practices.

Zones, where these codes are applicable were just broadly expanded in many parts of California.

Like someone said. Everybody expects the weeds in this fire area to be soaked, or covered with snow by now.

It's coming tomorrow I guess.

NachoLibre wrote:

huh? ? wrote:

do you know how cities work?

Not according to you, I am sure, How do cities work?

population density

500 homes in 150,000 acres isn't a city

Considering housing prices in Boulder, I wouldn’t be surprised if this reaches a billion dollars in damages. Two years in a row of extraordinarily late fires in Colorado.

huh? ? wrote:

NachoLibre wrote:

Not according to you, I am sure, How do cities work?

population density

500 homes in 150,000 acres isn't a city

I wouldn't get too hung up on all this bro, I don't feel like it's worth sorting out with you.

Good luck, Happy New Year!

This is unbelievable in late December. I'm assuming it's due to la nina?

Here in AZ, and also in Utah it hasn't been dry at all the past week. Must not have reached the other side of the 4 corners.

NachoLibre wrote:

huh? ? wrote:

population density

500 homes in 150,000 acres isn't a city

I wouldn't get too hung up on all this bro, I don't feel like it's worth sorting out with you.

Good luck, Happy New Year!

you do realize 150,000 acres is almost the size of new york city, right?

NachoLibre wrote:

That's what is shocking, that a grass fire destroyed so many buildings. The California fires are very different and usually get old buildings in heavily timbered areas, trees, or at least very heavy dried brush. There have been some exceptions, but that's the norm. We have lots of fire-hardening codes for the house and defensible space practices.

Zones, where these codes are applicable were just broadly expanded in many parts of California.

Like someone said. Everybody expects the weeds in this fire area to be soaked, or covered with snow by now.

It's coming tomorrow I guess.

100 mph winds can drive a fire that would normally be easily contained across great distances in a matter of minutes. This was a perfect storm with the dryest condtions on record coupled with the strongest winds on record.

terrible news wrote:

Rob de Castella lost everything in wildfires in 2003. Hopefully Jenny (and everyone else in the area) fares better.

But that was in the Australian Summer not in a Colorado Winter.

Is the tinman house ok

n o no wrote:

NachoLibre wrote:

That's what is shocking, that a grass fire destroyed so many buildings. The California fires are very different and usually get old buildings in heavily timbered areas, trees, or at least very heavy dried brush. There have been some exceptions, but that's the norm. We have lots of fire-hardening codes for the house and defensible space practices.

Zones, where these codes are applicable were just broadly expanded in many parts of California.

Like someone said. Everybody expects the weeds in this fire area to be soaked, or covered with snow by now.

It's coming tomorrow I guess.

100 mph winds can drive a fire that would normally be easily contained across great distances in a matter of minutes. This was a perfect storm with the dryest condtions on record coupled with the strongest winds on record.

The strongest winds recorded in Boulder are 141 mph. These were certainly strong but not the strongest on record, not even close.

huh? ? wrote:

population density

500 homes in 150,000 acres isn't a city[/quote]

Superior is a suburban area and the fire is only 1600 acres. Number of homes lost is approaching 600.

The 600 estimate was from yesterday afternoon. It's probably going to be much higher than that.

If there are running clubs or organizations in the area who are raising funds, please drop a link in this thread.