This will shock you: when things are made of wood, they will sometimes catch fire.
This happens periodically in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Enormous wildfires can often be a fact of life in the summer, and measures such as prescribed burns are taken every year to try and prevent them, but the Fourmile Canyon Fire of 2010 was particularly devastating. My own neighborhood at the base of the mountains was overlaid with smoke for nearly a week, which caused problems for locals with respiratory illnesses, my father included.
The fire started in the Fourmile Canyon on Labor Day (September 6) 2010, after more than a month of very dry conditions in the ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir forests of the front range. Fourmile Canyon is located in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, right next to the town of Boulder. The exact cause of the fire remains uncertain, though the most probable explanation is that it was caused by an improperly extinguished fire pit on private property in the canyon (extinguish your fires properly, folks.)
A deadly combination of high winds and very low humidity caused the fire to quickly burn through 5700 acres on the very first day. The rugged terrain of the canyon and the high winds initially negated several conventional fire-fighting techniques, including the use of aircraft. Several controlled burns had taken place in the area in the six years preceding the fire, but these had a limited effect on the fire's advancement. Thousands of people had to be evacuated from the Fourmile and neighboring canyons, and could not go home for nearly a week. The fire burned for five days in total, with the first day being the most devastating.
The fire would go on to destroy 169 homes and cause $217 million in damages, making it the most destructive and costly fire in the history of Colorado at that point. The record would later be surpassed in 2012 by the High Park Fire. Fortunately, no resident or firefighter was killed, though the thick smoke along the front range caused respiratory problems for a large number of people. My own father could not go outside due to a lung condition, and spent a very miserable week indoors. For a few days, visibility was so limited that you couldn't even see the mountains from my town, which is something that never happens except during the heaviest snowstorms!
Sources:
Roberts, Michael. "Boulder Fourmile Canyon Fire Cause: Was a resident's fire pit really to blame for blaze?" Westword (Denver, CO), September 13, 2010. https://www.westword.com/news/boulder-fourmile-canyon-fire-cause-was-a-residents-fire-pit-really-to-blame-for-blaze-5864212
Calkin, Dave, et al. Fourmile Canyon Fire Findings. United States Department of Agriculture/Fire Service, August 2012. https://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_gtr289.pdf
Miller, Vanessa, and Laura Snyder. "Fourmile Fire is now State's Worst in History, with 135 Homes Destroyed." Daily Camera (Boulder, CO), February 8, 2010. https://www.dailycamera.com/2010/09/08/fourmile-fire-is-now-states-worst-in-history-with-135-homes-destroyed/
This happens periodically in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Enormous wildfires can often be a fact of life in the summer, and measures such as prescribed burns are taken every year to try and prevent them, but the Fourmile Canyon Fire of 2010 was particularly devastating. My own neighborhood at the base of the mountains was overlaid with smoke for nearly a week, which caused problems for locals with respiratory illnesses, my father included.
A view of the fire from the city of Boulder
The fire started in the Fourmile Canyon on Labor Day (September 6) 2010, after more than a month of very dry conditions in the ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir forests of the front range. Fourmile Canyon is located in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, right next to the town of Boulder. The exact cause of the fire remains uncertain, though the most probable explanation is that it was caused by an improperly extinguished fire pit on private property in the canyon (extinguish your fires properly, folks.)
A deadly combination of high winds and very low humidity caused the fire to quickly burn through 5700 acres on the very first day. The rugged terrain of the canyon and the high winds initially negated several conventional fire-fighting techniques, including the use of aircraft. Several controlled burns had taken place in the area in the six years preceding the fire, but these had a limited effect on the fire's advancement. Thousands of people had to be evacuated from the Fourmile and neighboring canyons, and could not go home for nearly a week. The fire burned for five days in total, with the first day being the most devastating.
A view of the fire from Sugarloaf road
The fire would go on to destroy 169 homes and cause $217 million in damages, making it the most destructive and costly fire in the history of Colorado at that point. The record would later be surpassed in 2012 by the High Park Fire. Fortunately, no resident or firefighter was killed, though the thick smoke along the front range caused respiratory problems for a large number of people. My own father could not go outside due to a lung condition, and spent a very miserable week indoors. For a few days, visibility was so limited that you couldn't even see the mountains from my town, which is something that never happens except during the heaviest snowstorms!
Sources:
Roberts, Michael. "Boulder Fourmile Canyon Fire Cause: Was a resident's fire pit really to blame for blaze?" Westword (Denver, CO), September 13, 2010. https://www.westword.com/news/boulder-fourmile-canyon-fire-cause-was-a-residents-fire-pit-really-to-blame-for-blaze-5864212
Calkin, Dave, et al. Fourmile Canyon Fire Findings. United States Department of Agriculture/Fire Service, August 2012. https://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_gtr289.pdf
Miller, Vanessa, and Laura Snyder. "Fourmile Fire is now State's Worst in History, with 135 Homes Destroyed." Daily Camera (Boulder, CO), February 8, 2010. https://www.dailycamera.com/2010/09/08/fourmile-fire-is-now-states-worst-in-history-with-135-homes-destroyed/
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