Right now, it's moving so fast and so far that it puts everything in that park at a greater threat.
Major dams occur above many communities in this state. Giving people information can help them tie into what they should do to help themselves.
It has allowed for more fires and the wind has fanned those fires, turning them into hundreds, if not thousands of acres.
It burned hot and aggressive and spread fast because of the winds in the lighter vegetation and more south-facing slopes, then it tempered down when it got into the heavier timber area.
The problems with these high winds is not only is it sucking the moisture out of the fuel or the vegetation that's going to burn, but it also fanned the fire for a half a mile long and also got it into the trees causing safety problems for firefighters.
Unfortunately with the long range forecast, we're looking at above normal temperatures like this all the way until the next 12 months. We're looking at below normal precipitation in the next few months, basically the recipe is there that we can have a long fire season ahead of us.
We've been seeing hundreds of fires this winter, basically multiple fires everyday. When you talk about these wind events that have been coming through, instead of these fires where firefighters can quickly stop them, they're turning to thousands of acres.
With the winds we have today (30-35 mph in Boulder County), you could have fires that could outrace fire trucks trying to chase it. You could have fires that move so fast, you can't get out of the way on time. You could start not just losing a home, but home after home after home.
With these types of fires and how fast and aggressively they burn, this needs to be a wake-up call for people to be careful.
What people need to realize is that fire season is a year-round problem. If you don't have snow on the ground or it's not raining, you're in fire season.
You are not going to leave somebody on the street.
That smoke plume that you see there is not just a plume going up into the sky. It is extreme energy. This is awesome power that we're looking at.
This happened so fast that firefighters just had to stop the fire without having time to evacuate.
This has been a monthly event all winter: a hot, dry day with westerly winds. As the mountains have been receiving the moisture, we've been receiving the wind.
Think of the resources that we use, like air tankers. We're talking about fires that cost millions of dollars a day to fight.
They were able to move about 1,900 people up there in three minutes.
It's the exact situation they're dealing with in Oklahoma and Texas, it's the same type of situation for an aggressive fire. The only difference is out here it gets cooler in the evening.
This weather pattern has been continuing for weeks, and there's no real relief in sight.