East Troublesome fire

[HarryHunter]

Been bouncing back and forth for the last few weeks helping with evacuations. Lots of horse trailers, loaded vans and tearful faces. We personally moved six friends out who have lost it all.

Now we are helping with this fire. A few of our friends in Granby are not taking any chances due to the pre-evacuation plans. We are heading back up now to load them up and head them south.


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[Jaker_cc]

Grand lake

East of Steamboat

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[cnelk]

Pic taken by my friends south of Walden looking east yesterday

 

[Winnie]

I was in RMNP in early Sept. I really feel for the people and critters.

We mostly think about elk, deer, antelope, bears, etc when thinking about a fire. But a porcupine isnt going to outrun a fire. Does a fire pretty much decimate the slow moving vehicles of the animal world?

 

[jmez]

A fire like this decimates the fast moving vehicles of the animal world.

 

[justin davis]

Yea fires are good for the ecology and is needed in most places....cant same the same for structure engines tho

Haha yea. It’s a Wildland Type 3 engine thou do not as bad as a structure engine. But still baggers ha

I was in RMNP in early Sept. I really feel for the people and critters.

We mostly think about elk, deer, antelope, bears, etc when thinking about a fire. But a porcupine isnt going to outrun a fire. Does a fire pretty much decimate the slow moving vehicles of the animal world?

It’s amazing to me how animals survive fires and don’t seem to be affected by them. They know how to get out and survive. I’ve been on fires where you see lots of wildlife back in the burn areas shortly after a fire.
Really fast moving grass fires are a different story. They seem to kill more critters from my observations

 

[Huntindog45]

Haha yea. It’s a Wildland Type 3 engine thou do not as bad as a structure engine. But still baggers ha


It’s amazing to me how animals survive fires and don’t seem to be affected by them. They know how to get out and survive. I’ve been on fires where you see lots of wildlife back in the burn areas shortly after a fire.
Really fast moving grass fires are a different story. They seem to kill more critters from my observations

we had a huge fast moving fire here in butte county california a few weeks ago. people were finding dead deer and bears throughout the fire. often times they get out of the way but on these wind driven fast moving fires nothing survives.

 

[justin davis]

we had a huge fast moving fire here in butte county c

alifornia a few weeks ago. people were finding dead deer and bears throughout the fire. often times they get out of the way but on these wind driven fast moving fires nothing survives.

Yea Forsure. Brush and grass fires can be really quick and can kill animals. But most timber fires I have ever been on never saw dead animals. Just my observations of being on wildland fires for past 16 years.
Was on a very large grass fire in Kansas a few years ago. Fire was very quick and found lots of deer dead on that one.

 

[HarryHunter]

Yea Forsure. Brush and grass fires can be really quick and can kill animals. But most timber fires I have ever been on never saw dead animals. Just my observations of being on wildland fires for past 16 years.
Was on a very large grass fire in Kansas a few years ago. Fire was very quick and found lots of deer dead on that one.

I appreciate fellas like yourself fighting these fires. All I’ve been doing is hot shotting excess belongings and hauling trailers out of evacuation zones. I’ve already got permanent damage to my truck and feel like I’ve smoked a carton of cigarettes in the last few weeks. Can’t imagine actually fighting them. I could feel the heat just coming through my truck with windows rolled up. Absolutely wild to experience the human condition when families are taking their last look possibly at their homes. Also can’t imagine the stress this is putting on the wildlife.

You and fellas like yourself stay safe my friend!


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[.204smokechaser]

Found a burned up elk last week, but see far more deer and elk running from fires than what die. Most burned up/dead animals I see from first order fire effects are birds, small game, and reptiles. Seen dozens of crisp turkeys missing legs that are somehow living last Monday. Seen a couple burned rabbits. Saw a grouse today that was injured.


Nothing can outrun running crown fires or a 6000 acre an hour fire like the troublesome was a few days ago. No doubt lots of big game animals were burned in that fire. Last week on the Cameron Peak Fire, I saw roughly a hundred deer running from the fire when it was being flown by 60 mph winds.

 

[Huntindog45]

Yea Forsure. Brush and grass fires can be really quick and can kill animals. But most timber fires I have ever been on never saw dead animals. Just my observations of being on wildland fires for past 16 years.
Was on a very large grass fire in Kansas a few years ago. Fire was very quick and found lots of deer dead on that one.

yah i did the wildland thing for about 7 years in the late 80s and early 90s I dont ever remember seeing dead animals either...but then again we were dealing with a totally different kind of fire than they are seeing right now. Every old timer I know in the business has said the same thing.. the fire they have seen in the last 5 years is entirely different than anything they saw in the previous 25 years.

 

[HarryHunter]

yah i did the wildland thing for about 7 years in the late 80s and early 90s I dont ever remember seeing dead animals either...but then again we were dealing with a totally different kind of fire than they are seeing right now. Every old timer I know in the business has said the same thing.. the fire they have seen in the last 5 years is entirely different than anything they saw in the previous 25 years.

I’ve heard that was well, lots of guys saying the sheer extent of forest floor fuel and dead fall has these fires heating temperatures and speeds that don’t typically see.

We already have a small group of morons pushing climate change petitioning in Fort Collins/Boulder area. Stating this is because of fossil fuels and global warming. Completely ignoring the fact that we have demonized the logging industry that could have helped manage the deadfall and abundance of fuels. I’ve heard it straight from the mouth of guy I know who runs choppers for a fire fighting outfit that this is more about decades of demonizing the logging companies and poor land management than anything else. Another friend who is a smoke jumper has said something similar. He said the buckle up because it’s just going to get worse.

He said and I quote “Mother Nature has stepped in since we can’t manage it ourselves”


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[Huntindog45]

well i am going to be one of those guys. climate change is having a major effect. the fact the fuels are drying now for 5-7 months rather than 3, the fact we have summer conditions throughout October with fuels that have been baked for 5 straight months is unprecedented. We are seeing fire behavior that is like nothing anyone has ever seen in areas that are have burned within a few years. sorry but i am a biologist and scientist first. I will always agree with the science and it is pretty much without dispute right now that climate change is playing massive impacts on so many natural functions. Despite what everyone thinks they are logging the hell out of California right now. and those areas that have been burned the hardest in the last few years are areas that were logged extensively. just pull up a google earth image of northern California and southern Oregon. it looks like a checker board with all the clear cuts. those areas around butte, Tehama and shasta county that have burned the hardest are right in the middle of the hottest and biggest fires we have ever seen. it is not even a debate anymore. only a political argument by one side.

this screen right here... is exactly where the fire i was talking about killing all the deer happened... tell me again it is because we have stopped logging.

Google Earth

earth.google.com

 

[HarryHunter]

well i am going to be one of those guys. climate change is having a major effect. the fact the fuels are drying now for 5-7 months rather than 3, the fact we have summer conditions throughout October with fuels that have been baked for 5 straight months is unprecedented. We are seeing fire behavior that is like nothing anyone has ever seen in areas that are have burned within a few years. sorry but i am a biologist and scientist first. I will always agree with the science and it is pretty much without dispute right now that climate change is playing massive impacts on so many natural functions. Despite what everyone thinks they are logging the hell out of California right now. and those areas that have been burned the hardest in the last few years are areas that were logged extensively. just pull up a google earth image of northern California and southern Oregon. it looks like a checker board with all the clear cuts. those areas around butte, Tehama and shasta county that have burned the hardest are right in the middle of the hottest and biggest fires we have ever seen. it is not even a debate anymore. only a political argument by one side.

this screen right here... is exactly where the fire i was talking about killing all the deer happened... tell me again it is because we have stopped logging.

Google Earth

earth.google.com

Let me clarify, I’m not saying climate change ISNT having an effect. Just that these eco warriors cherry pick the reasoning for these fires. However ask anyone who hunts CO and they will without a doubt agree there is an absolute amount of dead fall and fuel on these forest floors. Just irritating that some of these groups pick and chose what facts or data to use for their protests and agenda. Climate change and global warming is one of those crazy conversations that can have each other at other’s throats. Just stating that we have a lot of fuel on the ground and that many fire fighters I know have stated could possibly have been taken care of prior to these fires. That’s all I’m saying.


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[cnelk]

This is what it looks like in Colorado and Wyoming in a lot of the National Forests

 

[jmez]

Right. Worst we've ever seen. Unprecedented. Couple hundred years of data on a plant that is 4.5 billion of year old.

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[HarryHunter]

This is what it looks like in Colorado and Wyoming in a lot of the National Forests


View attachment 226828

You hunting in my unit too!! Lol Dang near looks like what I had to sneak through to get set up on a 6x6 this last Sept.


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[Huntindog45]

...and trust me I am well aware of how badly the forests have been mismanaged. That has been occurring since ...well since we started managing forests. starting with the put every fire out by 10 the next morning policy in the beginning of the USFS. Then we managed them exclusivley for timber production and tried to fit 20 trees in a place where there should be 2 trees, turned evergreen forests into evergreen orchards. now we are stuck with the results from that. the private forests here in california and oregon are so poorly managed it is pathetic. nothing about them looks natural. the large private land holding have been logging the hell out of the place which i am not against. frankly that is the best deer habitat we have..for a few years after the logging, then they replant it with a tree every 2 feet and within a few years it looks like a big monoculture orchard. and now we are finding those areas burn really well, really hot and really fast. throw in a few years of drought, 6-7 months of no rain baking every twig in the forest and 90 degree weather in october and boom. you get what we have now. massive fires breaking out when we should have a foot of snow on the ground.

 

[justin davis]

yah i did the wildland thing for about 7 years in the late 80s and early 90s I dont ever remember seeing dead animals either...but then again we were dealing with a totally different kind of fire than they are seeing right now. Every old timer I know in the business has said the same thing.. the fire they have seen in the last 5 years is entirely different than anything they saw in the previous 25 years.

Yea maybe so. But we only really have record of fires for a small portion of the time period. Im
Not convinced we are seeing worse fires than ever before. Old timers might say that. And maybe it’s worse than they have seen in their life. But we have record of giant fires in the past. Look at the fire of 1910. Burned 3 million acres in a couple of days! That’s insane.

I think these Colorado fires we had this fall. Lined up for the perfect storm. Very dry fall ...strong winds.. and tons of dead dry fuel.
On the ground. Many have said this would happen at some point.

As far as climate change. Science also Tells us that the earth has gone thru warming and cooling trends. Many long warming periods and droughts long before modern man. So the people that protest and think these fires are due to us not using electric cars etc are ignorant in my opinion. I’m all for taking care of the earth and doing what we can to protect our resources. Don’t get me wrong.

 

[Baddog]

I nice big fat tax should solve the problem!