Boulder, Colorado Fires

[runnerhiker]

We are ok, the fires were about 15 miles south of us. It is really a tragic event, about 600 homes totally destroyed and 30,000 people were evacuated.

The front edge of a winter storm came over the mountains, high winds came off the mountains before the snow and cold arrived. At around noon Thursday, the temps were 45 deg and the winds were 75-100 mph by two small communities south of Boulder called Marshall and Superior. I live 5 miles north of Boulder. The initial story is that the high winds knocked down a power line, the downed line ignited a grass fire in an open space area, and the wind took hot ambers to populated areas east of the foot of the mountains and set houses and stores on fire. At that point, the fuel for the fire became the houses and stores in suburbs and the high winds just spread it.

I heard today that the original spark story of a downed power line is now in question and that might not be it. There is no rolling back the tragedy. The only good news is that there are no casualties, although I heard today that two people are unaccounted for.