Boulder Wildfire: Fourmile Canyon Wildfire Largest Wildfire in Boulder County History

September 7, 2010

By LBG1

Update: For Live Audio Feeds from the Boulder County Fire Department, the Boulder County Sheriff and Fire Department, RadioReference.com

Update: Fourmile Canyon Fire: Boulder County Posts Addresses of 139 Homes Destroyed by Fire

Update: At 11:19 EST, from the live feed from Boulder County Sheriff and Fire Department, a report asking if “Dakota Ridge is being evacuated”, the responding official unable to confirm the report.

Update: At 11:40 EST, an official from the Boulder County Sheriff and Fire Department on the live feed reporting he hadn’t heard of any reports of evacuations in Dakota Ridge. “We haven’t heard of any of those”.

Update: September 9, 8:14 PM EST: Boulder Wildfire: City of Boulder Preparing For Worse Case Scenario After Red Flag Warning

Boulder, CO – The Four Mile Canyon Fire is burning in rugged, steep terrain west and northwest of the Boulder City limits. A total of 3,500 acres have burned. Multiple structures have been lost and many remain threatened. The fire began on September 6, 2010 in Emerson Gulch located in Four Mile Canyon. Communities impacted by this fire include Four Mile Canyon, Sunshine Canyon, Gold Hill, Sugarloaf, Pinebrook Hills, and Boulder Heights. Approximately 3,500 residents are under manditory evacuation.
Inciweb.org

According to latest news the Fourmile Canyon wildfire has burned over 7,000 acres and is 0% contained. Weather conditions expected to remain the same until later this week when the winds will pick back up. The Four Mile Canyon fire, the largest wildfire in Boulder County history. A wildfire that may have started after a vehicle hit a propane tank.

So far, “six-three structures” burned with only half the area surveyed. At 4:pm the fire was moving in a northeast direction. Governor of Colorado Bill Ritter issued a state of emergency with local fire crews “exhausted”. A Federal “Type 1″ crisis management expected to arrive Wednesday morning. In the interim slurry bombers dropped fire retardant to “keep the fire in the perimeter that is bounded on the north by Lefthand Canyon; on the east by Poorman Road, Sunshine Canyon and Pine Brook Hills; on the south by Boulder Creek; and on the west by Mount Alto Park”.

For more info read Fourmile Fire: Minimum of 63 structures lost, only half of burn area surveyed.

In June of 2002, the Hayman Wildfire, the largest wildfire in Colorado history, a “wildfire run in 1 day of over 60,000 acres”:

In 2002 much of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado was rich in dry vegetation as a result of fire exclusion and the droughty conditions that prevailed in recent years. These dry and heavy fuel loadings were continuous along the South Platte River corridor located between Denver and Colorado Springs on the Front Range. These topographic and fuel conditions combined with a dry and windy weather system centered over eastern Washington to produce ideal burning conditions. The start of the Hayman Fire was timed and located perfectly to take advantage of these conditions resulting in a wildfire run in 1 day of over 60,000 acres and finally impacting over 138,000 acres.

About.com:

The 2002 western fire season ended with fires burning 7.2 million acres and costing over $1 billion to fight. That same wildfire season is considered one of the most intense of the past half-century in the western United States.

The premiere fire that year was the Hayman which burned 138,000 acres and 133 homes in 20 days. It still holds the record for being Colorado’s largest wildfire ever. Most of the fire (72%) stayed on the Pike National Forest south and west of Denver and northwest of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Enough fire escaped national forest lands to cause significant private damage.

After its aftermath, the fire studied by the government, the Hayman Fire Case Study, involving “more than 60 scientists and professionals from throughout the United States”. A wildfire started by a U.S. Forest Service worker, Terry Barker.

On March 5, 2003, Terry Barker was sentenced by the state of Colorado to 12 years in prison. Barton, in a previous federal trial had been sentenced to six years in prison.

The Denver Channel:

Barton, whose job included spotting illegal fires, first told authorities she discovered the blaze while patrolling a forest June 8, 2002. She later said she accidentally started the blaze, despite a fire ban at the time, while burning a letter from her estranged husband.

She pleaded guilty to federal arson charges in December and the state arson charge in January.

During her federal sentencing, Barton tearfully apologized and told a courtroom filled with family, friends and victims, that she hadn’t forgiven herself for starting Colorado’s largest-ever wildfire.

Residents in the mountain towns that were devastated by the blaze told 7NEWS that they haven’t forgiven her either.

The fire cost an estimated $13 million in property damage.

Boulder Wildfire Fourmile Canyon Fire: 9 1/2 Square Miles Burned, 53 Homes Destroyed, Eight People Missing

Boulder Wildfire Four Mile Canyon Wildfire Spreads to 3500 Acres

Boulder Four Mile Canyon Fire Out of Control: Highway 19 Closed, Ash Reported in Boulder

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