Boulder, Colorado fires/evacuations of whole towns -- coverage

[madamesilverspurs]

https://www.9news.com/article/weather/severe-weather/multiple-grass-fires-boulder-county/73-d98c59a1-480e-47cc-b2b3-8a82baca0a58

https://denver.cbslocal.com/2021/12/30/grass-fires-boulder-county-evacuate-flames/

https://www.thedenverchannel.com/live


.

[hlthe2b]

1. 100 mph winds. I just came from US 36 and I-25. Denver Health (Hospital)is already seeing injuries

Those folks are getting zero notice.

Lots of live coverage. Local fox outlet (yeah, i know, but they are placed well) showing subdivisions already burning:

https://kdvr.com/news/local/grass-fires-spark-in-boulder-county-as-high-winds-pick-up/

[leftstreet]

3. Holy crap

The wind (!) in that video

[Demovictory9]

41. omg.. CAlif level fires

[LoisB]

2. Hope everyone adheres to the evacuation orders and gets out safely.

[NickB79]

4. Perfectly normal. Nothing to see, move along

Don't look up.

[orwell]

20. ...and keep buying that fossil fuel...

...because Texas needs the money...

[Dial H For Hero]

33. I will. Not because of Texas, but because it's rather hard to heat or cool my home without doing so.

Not to mention fueling my vehicles, flying, etc.

[certainot]

38. yeah right, and why do anything? why even try? al gore flies in planes! bullshit

my cousin lost his house tonight and i've been hearing these dumbfuck republican rationalizations for not doing anything for 30 fucking years

like sen ron johnson who said vaccinations don't ALWAYS work so why get it?

and it's going to snow there tomorrow and get real cold - what global warming?

[electric_blue68]

42. Very sorry to hear that!

[Dial H For Hero]

46. Just to be clear, are you arguing that I shouldn't fly anywhere, heat and cool my home,

or drive my own car?

[orwell]

47. I don't fly anywhere...

...and there are alternatives to heating and cooling your home and transportation options without the ongoing use of fossil fuels.

I have a far smaller fossil fuel footprint than most Americans because of the choices I have made over the last 4 decades.

It is easier now than it has ever been to wean yourself from support of the fossil fuel industry.

Unless we all do our part, change will not happen. The smallest choices we all make can have big ramifications later on.

We are experiencing them now for our collective head in the sand attitude over the last 50 years.

Choose now or have your choice made for you by a very "adaptable" Gaia.

[Dial H For Hero]

48. I do.

I typically take a couple of international trips each year, and a couple of domestic ones as well. As for my home, the temperature in Littleton (just west of Denver) is going to drop to 9 degrees tonight. What's the alternative to heating my apartment? Or, for that matter, cooling it when it's in the upper '90s?

As for day to day transportation, just yesterday I visited a friend who lives around 20 miles away, bought 8 bags of groceries at the supermarket (4 miles away), and shipped a dozen packages at the post office (I'm an Ebay reseller), also 4 miles away. What fossil fuel free transportation method would you suggest for these trips?

[orwell]

49. In California...

...Solar + Battery backup pays for itself in around 7 years with the federal subsidies. Grid-tied solar without batteries pays for itself in less than 5 years. While these technologies do require fossil fuels to manufacture, the overall fossil fuel use during it's lifetime is far less than conventional heating/cooling.

What little auto use I do is with an used electric vehicle. Once again, the lifetime use of which has far smaller climate impact than a conventional vehicle. And I live in a rural area. When I do have to go into town, I try to do everything in one trip. I almost never buy anything new, but prefer to buy things used as the climate cost has already been paid.

My house has a level of insulation that even if I used conventional heating cooling my energy bill would be around $100 per month. I chose that level of insulation even though it initially cost more. It has paid for itself many times over. In California, there are programs that help low income people insulate their homes for free and even furnish high efficiency appliances. It is cheaper to do that than to build power plants to generate the energy in the first place. While I am not in Colorado, there has been snow on the ground in my area much of the last week. I am at around 1800 ft. elevation.

By the way, we have had almost 5 years of devastating fires in my area of Northern California in the last 7 years. My house has been missed by less than a mile 4 times already. I have evacuated more times than I can count. Many of my customers have lost homes and businesses to wild fires directly tied to the drought conditions brought by climate change. It is real and it's going to get worse. Many can not buy home insurance any more in this county.

I don't fly because of the fossil fuel imprint and anything I would need to do by flying I can do with an electronic alternative.

I am a vegetarian because of the industrial meat industry and the horrific climate impact of our unnecessary over reliance of meat in our diets. (I worked in a meat processing plant during a summer vacation and cured myself of my meat addiction quickly.) That was 45 years ago and the industry has only gotten worse.

I have done all of this despite the fact that as far as the government is concerned I live in in the bottom 20% income bracket. I own my home free and clear because I refuse to go into debt. I buy things with my savings. I run a computer consulting business that is critical to individuals and businesses in my community. I charge far less than the prevailing rate as I live in a very poor county in California.

This is possible to do. It requires planning, self-education, and choices. I live a wonderful life. I grow a lot of my own food and am reasonably healthy for my age. If we don't start making these critical choices now we are leaving a world that will be unrecognizable in 50 years.

I don't have children by choice. I do this for everyone else's children and because it reflects my values.

I can't convince you of anything. You have to walk your own path. But be aware that the choices you make regarding climate and greenhouse gasses affect everyone.

There is no free lunch.

[Dial H For Hero]

51. Given that I'm in an apartment, I cannot control the source of my electricity.

Automobile use: I have two vehicles, a 2009 Cadillac SUV and a 2007 Porsche convertible. Except in poor weather or when hauling stuff, I typically drive the Porsche. It's a lot more fun...

As for buying things new, about 5 months ago my (old) apartment had a fire. While none of the contents caught fire, the roof did...smoke and water from the firefighter's efforts poured in, ruining everything (including thousands of collectible books, that really hurt). I've since moved to a new apartment, which I actually very much prefer, but I had to replace everything. I wasn't about to buy used, I wanted everything to be nice and state of the art. Hence the 77" 4K home theater, it was one of the first things I put in. Priorities, donchyano.

As for flying, all of my trips are for pleasure. I love taking vacations in Europe, Asia, and Africa. I put in 34 years with the post office so I could see the world after retirement. Recent unfortunate restrictions aside, I'll continue to do so.

I try to avoid eating too much red meat for reasons of health, but love the occasional ribeye.

I'm not about to leave the suburbs, and prefer apartment living. I don't want to own a house and have to deal with maintenance. If something breaks I just stroll down to the office, and within an hour someone fixes it. Yardwork and growing my own food? No, thank you!

I also don't have children by choice. I do this because I have no wish to have that sort of lifetime responsibility, both moral and financial.

Your lifestyle is quite different from mine, and you quite obviously enjoy it. To which I say...great! To each their own.

[orwell]

52. We lost a house...

...to a fire in 2003. It was an old manufactured home and there was an electrical fire in the walls. I know what you mean about smoke damage. The house itself was mostly intact but all the contents were trashed. It was amazing how much of it we saved even though we were insured for the contents.

Living in an apartment is actually a very efficient way to live, carbon footprint wise. It's too bad that the building owner doesn't go the extra mile and install rooftop solar. Up to this point in Cali they have made it almost foolish not to if you have any type of capital. The payback is enormous.

When I was very young I had a Purple 64 DeVille convertible. I loved that car. Unfortunately my climate consciousness kicked in and I sold it for peanuts to temper my guilt for driving it.

I worked in a pork processing plant. A word to the wise, do not eat processed meat...hot dogs, hams, lunchmeat. There are things in there that should not be consumed by anyone or anything.

I live in a beautiful valley on the side of a hill that looks like a Hallmark card. We are on 30 acres surrounded by deer, wild pigs, turkeys, peacocks, coyotes and every manner of bird. I can't see my neighbors so it looks like we own the entire valley. It really is spectacular. Our county has some of the cleanest air and water quality in the US. We pinch ourselves every day that we get to live here.

Happy New Year.

[Dial H For Hero]

54. I'm sure there are some apartments in this area which have rooftop solar, but that wasn't

a consideration for me when I moved.

I must admit that I've never had the sort of social consciousness that would make me feel guilty about anything in my lifestyle; the idea that I would, for instance, feel bad about flying business class and switch to (shudder) economy when flying to Bangkok, or (even worse) not go in the first place so as to minimize my carbon footprint never crosses my mind. When shopping for cars, I look for the vehicle that gives me the most pleasure for the dollar.

This is not a criticism of your chosen lifestyle in any way. You derive great satisfaction from it, and that's wonderful.

I wish you the happiest of New Years as well.

[Leghorn21]

5. A friend who lives north of Boulder just called me about this

Good twitter thread here:

https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarshallFire?src=hashtag_click

Scary beyond words 🧊

[hlthe2b]

8. Yes. There are some horrific videos, maps and still photos on that twitter feed.

I'm now out of that area, but some folks here do live there and Boulder. Be safe, folks and if you are in the pre-evacuation area, maybe this will help (from my own insurance company):

[Diablo del sol]

12. Great Post

As someone who lives in a CA fire area, it doesn’t take much prep.

Make sure your key documents are backed up and/or on a drive or laptop. (Including pictures and videos that are special)

The rest of your ‘stuff’ fits into a trunk of a car. Key items on the list provided. Some clothes, some water, good pair of walking shoes.

I can be out of the house in 10 minutes.

To quote Dave Matthews, “It all comes down to nothing.”

Depressing the first time I went through it. Now laughable. 60 years of life, the important stuff fits in a car and trunk. Family and pets, on the road!

[calimary]

25. Welcome to DU, Diablo del sol!

Yep. Been there, done that. Grab the pets and some pet food and your already-packed "away bag", and go.

It's actually a good reminder for right now. Is EVERYBODY equipped with some sort of "away bag"? Better to put one together now while you have "presence of mind" because there's NO emergency breathing down your neck. Another reason why we don't have outdoor cats. If they're insiders, they're easier to round up and evacuate with.

[jmbar2]

31. Very helpful list

Seeing these terrifying pictures is motivation to get my go bag in order.

I'm in Oregon, but we had similar scenes a couple of years ago. I've gotten slack. Thanks for the reminder.

[hlthe2b]

44. I was in Fort Collins during the major wildfires of a few years back and felt Horsetooth Reservoir

would keep it crossing the foothills. While I've experienced grassfires before, they were promptly put out. This wind event and the mere pushing over of power lines has shown how wrong that assumption was then and how vulnerable EVERYONE is in most parts of Colorado to similar events.

Digitizing documents and photos should be a project for EVERYONE this winter, so that the most important of your memories and life can be gathered up QUICKLY should you need to do so. That list from USAA I posted upstream is going to be an invaluable starting point. I had a "go-bag" backpack ready to go already, but nothing so comprehensive.

[certainot]

40. can't possibly happen to me... my cousin just lost his house in this fire

i have no details

[likesmountains 52]

13. Those poor people trying to find their dogs that were at the kennel :(

[gldstwmn]

39. 39of 40 of the dogs have been found as of 11 PM.

[likesmountains 52]

45. yea!

[leftieNanner]

19. My Daughter is in Boulder

Thanks for sharing the twitter thread. I think.

So scary.

[central scrutinizer]

6. Record high temps in Alaska yesterday

Record snow in Tahoe, welcome to the new normal

[Ohio Joe]

7. This is one town over from me...

The sky is glowing orange in that direction with a smokey halo all around it... A sight to see. We await news on if we evacuate or not.

[MerryBlooms]

10. If the winds are blowing your way, I wouldn't wait.

Traffic looks bad. Sending you all my best and love.

[madamesilverspurs]

9. Coverage is noting change of smoke color from gray to black,

indicative of structure fires. Showing video of houses burned to the ground.


.

[Raftergirl]

11. Stay safe everyone.

I went to CU and never at this time of the year were there wildfires.

[JanMichael]

50. I lived in Loveland Co in the 80's. Yes there were brush fires every year.

But back then the nighttime satellite images of lights from developments was not continuous from Denver to Ft Collins. There were gaps in development. Those gaps are almost gone.

There were farms between Loveland and Ft Collins. Around 15 linear miles of no houses except the occasional farm house or super rich "ponderosa" type place.

Now? It is all filled in.

The night sky now:

https://cires.colorado.edu/artificial-sky

[IronLionZion]

14. I wish we could send some of our rain out west

it is undeniably warmer this winter than even just a few years ago

[SleeplessinSoCal]

27. SoCal has had exceptional rainfall over the past two weeks.

I can actually read about a gale warning and not break into a hot sweat.

My heart goes out to those who try to help curb GW but still get walloped. Life sure isn't fair.

[likesmountains 52]

15. It must have been quite an ordeal to evcuate Avista Hopital and get all those patients

admitted somewhere else with occupancy being pretty high.

[MustLoveBeagles]

16. K&R

Stay safe everyone.

[caraher]

17. My brother is nearby

Posting pictures but not going anywhere yet.

[Rizen]

18. I'm in Boulder city.

We're not evacuated, yet. I saw this and thought holy shit!

[certainot]

21. shite. thanks for the heads up

[randr]

22. Electricity is off and people can not figure how to open their garage doors to escape.

This is not going to end well. The multiple housing units scattered across this landscape and seen the open grass land expanses as an asset.
On edit. If you know of anyone in this situation let them know, if at all possible, that all doors have a manual opening mechanism.

[NickB79]

28. Seriously? How do you not know how to manually open a garage door?

That's mind-blowing to me!

[randr]

34. You always use you remote

or the button. Some people have never had a door that was not automatic

[Diablo del sol]

36. Another good point

We had a couple in our neighborhood panic. Everyone should practice this, really easy. But people get into a panic and miss the obvious.

[NNadir]

23. Boulder is one of my favorite cities in all of North America.

I used to do a lot of business there; and I always enjoyed trips to see my clients who were also friends.

I hope the fires can be contained. Many of my friends lived in Bloomfield, Westminster, etc.

This is terrible news.

[uncle ray]

24. 600 homes burned already, entire subdivisions wiped out.

winds recorded up to 110 mph.

[calimary]

26. Oh man...

Frightening.

Stay safe everybody! And if evacuations MIGHT be coming, do yours sooner than later!

[NNadir]

29. The weather is calling for the winds to die down and snow.

I hope that helps.

[Kaleva]

30. Too late to look up as one needs to look where they are fleeing and what they are running from

[Wingus Dingus]

32. Been so, so dry on the Front range this fall--

so weird to see such cold temperatures and fires at the same time. The snowstorm can't come soon enough.

[7wo7rees]

35. 7wo7rees brother and family have home in Superior. UPDATE.

Last edited Fri Dec 31, 2021, 04:27 AM - Edit history (1)

7wo7rees parents with friends are now under evacuation possible order. 7wo7rees brother and rest of fam is somewhere safe near Golden.

just
His parents from NC have been there since Saturday (they were with us last week and flew from Dallas to Denver). Our nephews flew in from New Jersey Tuesday. His brother left early this am to take boys skiing at Breckenridge.
Last we heard is he was coming trying to get home with boys.
Everyone else evacuated to friends house someplace out of fire area.
We don't know if their home was spared.
7wo7rees mother is a wreck.

[niyad]

37. Frightening. What the F'n HELL is wrong with those talking heads in the first link

(obviously from much earlier today) "I see the sun trying to peek out over your shoulder. Bet it's a nice blue sky above the smoke." Wanted to reach through the screen and smack that insensitive jackass.

[electric_blue68]

43. I hope for the best possible outcomes now, and later for you all in those areas...

Visited Boulder back in '80.

[Cha]

53. So Sorry, Boulder, Colorado!