DD sent me an alert that there was a fire near me today. Earlier in the day I search for "haze of Summit Co" to see if the prevailing wind was bringing smoke from Durango/416 into Summit - it was so I went back to routine. When going outside then I smelled something more pungent than what would results from a fire 400 miles away. I then received DD's alert and yes - Buffalo Mountain near the Nest is experiencing an uncontrolled wildfire. Here are the pics I took as I evacuated the area. The 1st was from our short road off of Ryan Gulch and the others as I left the area. I was an early evacuee and the road down the mountain was not too bad - folks were even heading back up at the time - now Wildernest and Mesa Cortina access is shut down completely and the fire is growing under windy conditions.
At least we have decent firebreaks around our areas (red arrows) - that mitigation is pretty recent and will be very handy now - fire is just on top edge of the image. Too here's evac orders withour our spot in bright green. It's also good being close to Dillon Rez as choppers are sucking up water and dropping it while slurry bombers are also dropping retardant. I think my power and gas have been shut down as I have no connectivity to my services there - verified; see pic.
Update from afternoon briefing showed little growth in fire and effectiveness of firebreaks. Here's the 3D image of the area with fire circled in red.
Update from Wed 13Jun18 Community Mtg on the Buffalo Mountain Fire... the fire has not grown. While just 20% contained though choppers dumped water all day and slurry bombers doused the perimeter, the fire perimeter now has hose lines on all sides and is being beaten back. Some structures next to the fire are now pink from slurry and it's advised to clean it off quickly. Included is also a great pic from Summit County of the fire from above. The fire was kept 200 yards or so from structures thanks to the recent fuel breaks around Wildernest and Mesa Cortina. My power has been restored but I don't really wanna smell my fridge when I'm let back into the Nest. Cause of the fire not final but inspectors are fairly certain it was human caused.
Evacuation order was lifted today, Thu Jun 14th, at 3pm. Woohoo - comprehensively great job by Summit Co and associated responders - cooperation was apparent, speed was evident, coordination was superior, information flow was awesome - great job by the teams.
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