Posts tagged high winds

Boulder Colorado

Larry Donner Boulder fire chief talks to Boulder Channel 1 news this afternoon.

Larry Donner Boulder fire chief:” People need to have a heightened awareness this weekend. It is very dry out. Though we are not in Red Flag Warning situation which requires high wind and high temperatures, we could go there if the wind picks up. tomorrow, saturday, the temperatures will high enough.  Heightened awareness in in order.

We have low moisture so by mid day when the temperatures heat up ‘flashy fuels” such as grass ( these are the ones which burn first) are easily igniteable ”

People need to put defensible space around their homes and not put that work on their to do list. that includes moving firewood and cutting tall grass near homes. Some people think that grass is not much of a threat, but 4 foot high grass can have a crown of ten feet and be very dangerous.

Wildland fire behavior is much like flood water behavior. Fire has currents and eddies. So when you’ll notice that two or three houses in a neighborhood will be burned and one will be left standing, that is most probabluy a result of the currents formed by fires.

residents don’t realize just how dangerous wild land fires can be until it is too late.  In the four mile fire we had people on sunshine canyon who didn’t want to leave, but the fire was moving so fast, that though it was a few miles away they waited until smoke and embers forced them out . That is a dangerous situation for everyone.  those embers were the size of roof shingles and they were blowing one mile in front of the fire. We can’t stop that.

fire fighters lives are put at risk when residents do not want to leave. They don’t think it is so bad, but if they get in the way of fire fighting efforts, we have to then have to  rescue them and in some cases our selves. That was the case in the four Mile fire.

What people need to realize is that if the wind is blowing in a hot wild land fire, The fire is moving at 40 miles per hour. You can’t out run that. It comes up on you real fast and then it is too late.

There have been experiments  done in Australia where residents stayed behind to fight wild land fires, but when the fire arrived at their property it was crowning at 10 to 20 feet , moving at 30 to 50 mph, was extremely hot ..and it killed everyone in its path. That’s what we always want to avoid in Boulder.

I scratch my head when I see most wild fires are human caused.  People should not be burning anything near open space with conditions like this. this is a very hightened condition for fires..

We have something called “point protection, where we will pick the most likely house to save, but down the road 3 or 4 other houses will burn because of poor space protection, high winds and flying ambers.

So , yeah, this weekend remain vigilant and aware.”

Hazardous Weather Outlook

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
1102 AM MDT FRI NOV 05 2010

COZ030>051-061200-
JACKSON COUNTY BELOW 9000 FEET-WEST JACKSON AND WEST GRAND
COUNTIES ABOVE 9000 FEET-GRAND AND SUMMIT COUNTIES BELOW 9000
FEET-SOUTH AND EAST JACKSON/LARIMER/NORTH AND NORTHEAST GRAND/
NORTHWEST BOULDER COUNTIES ABOVE 9000 FEET-SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST
GRAND/WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST BOULDER/GILPIN/CLEAR CREEK/
SUMMIT/NORTH AND WEST PARK COUNTIES ABOVE 9000 FEET-LARIMER AND
BOULDER COUNTIES BETWEEN 6000 AND 9000 FEET-JEFFERSON AND WEST
DOUGLAS COUNTIES ABOVE 6000 FEET/GILPIN/CLEAR CREEK/NORTHEAST PARK
COUNTIES BELOW 9000 FEET-CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST PARK COUNTY-LARIMER
COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/NORTHWEST WELD COUNTY-BOULDER AND JEFFERSON
COUNTIES BELOW 6000 FEET/WEST BROOMFIELD COUNTY-NORTH DOUGLAS
COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/DENVER/WEST ADAMS AND ARAPAHOE COUNTIES/
EAST BROOMFIELD COUNTY-ELBERT/CENTRAL AND EAST DOUGLAS COUNTIES
ABOVE 6000 FEET-NORTHEAST WELD COUNTY-CENTRAL AND SOUTH WELD
COUNTY-MORGAN COUNTY-CENTRAL AND EAST ADAMS AND ARAPAHOE COUNTIES-
NORTH AND NORTHEAST ELBERT COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/NORTH LINCOLN
COUNTY-SOUTHEAST ELBERT COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/SOUTH LINCOLN
COUNTY-LOGAN COUNTY-WASHINGTON COUNTY-SEDGWICK COUNTY-PHILLIPS
COUNTY-
1102 AM MDT FRI NOV 05 2010

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL
COLORADO.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

HIGH PRESSURE WILL REMAIN OVER THE REGION THROUGH TONIGHT WITH DRY
CONDITIONS CONTINUING. TEMPERATURES TODAY WILL BE ABOUT 10 TO 15
DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL ACROSS NORTHEAST COLORADO.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY

NEAR RECORD WARMTH CAN BE EXPECTED THIS WEEKEND WITH DAYTIME HIGHS
PUSHING WELL INTO THE 70S ACROSS THE PLAINS.  IN THE HIGH COUNTRY...
DAYTIME HIGHS WILL REACH THE 50S AND 60S.  A LARGE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE
ACROSS THE CENTRAL ROCKIES WILL BRING THE UNSEASONABLY WARM
CONDITIONS.

BY EARLY NEXT WEEK...A SERIES OF UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES AND COLD
FRONTS WILL BRING COOLER TEMPERATURES AND SOME PRECIPITATION TO THE
FORECAST AREA.  THE FIRST SYSTEM MOVING ACROSS THE STATE MONDAY
NIGHT INTO TUESDAY IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE MAINLY LIGHT PRECIPITATION
WITH A FEW INCHES OF SNOW POSSIBLE IN THE MOUNTAINS ABOVE 9500
FEET.  ON THE PLAINS...PRECIPITATION CHANCES WILL BE LOWER WITH A
RAIN AND SNOW MIX POSSIBLE.  ANOTHER STORM SYSTEM BY THURSDAY HAS A
POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE MORE SIGNIFICANT PRECIPITATION ESPECIALLY IN
THE MOUNTAINS.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT.

$$
D-L/BARJENBRUCH