Living with Wildfire
What It's Like Having a Wildfire Less Than Three Miles From My House
It is quiet today here at my little mountain home. This is usually how it is up here. But not so the last several days, when it sounded more like JFK airport. The noise was thanks to the Oak Ridge Fire, or, more precisely, the many aircraft employed to fight the fire. The 1200-acre wildfire’s southeast boundary is 2.8 miles from my house that sits on a west-facing hillside surrounded by a forest of ponderosa pines and Gambel oak (often referred to as scrub oak). From our deck, we have a front-row seat to the fire.
Give the fire just the right weather and environmental conditions (the right conditions for growing, I should say, which would be the wrong conditions for me still having my house) and it could cover that short distance in a few minutes. We’ve done some significant mitigation to our property, but much of the understory has recently grown back, so our place, like so many others, is vulnerable. But we’ve been lucky. A combination of relatively favorable weather conditions and a robust team of wildland firefighters has kept the fire from encroaching into my home town of Beulah. I surmise that today’s reduction of aerial support is a good sign — at least for today, because things can change quickly.
The Oak Ridge Fire started over a week ago, when lightning struck and ignited a tree in a rugged section of forest about three miles northwest of Beulah. My journal entries from the last few days provide an overview of the fire’s progression:
Sunday, June 23, 8:45pm We watched the Oak Ridge Fire this evening – it’s a couple of miles or so northwest of our place. Only an acre or two – started by a lightning strike two days ago – but it was quite active today. Two copters and a jet dropping water and retardant. Smoldering tonight – but I am not at all worried as the wind is minimal and the humidity is rising.
Monday, June 24, 10pm The fire blew up early afternoon today – went from 1.5 acres this morning to 275 acres at 8pm. Driving home from town around 1:30 this afternoon, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The fire was actively consuming lots of fuel, producing an angry looking smoke plume. We packed up our two vehicles, and although we are not on pre-evacuation notice, we are ready if we need to go.
Tuesday, June 25, 9:15am The fire laid down overnight, but the breezy morning is waking it up, as the smoke is beginning to increase. This should be an interesting day!
10:35pm Fire was up to 495 acres mid-afternoon, now up to 787 acres. Moving to the west and south.
Wednesday, June 26, 9pm Fire is now at 1008 acres. It is growing and is still 0% contained. Not sure just what the next several days will bring, but it is hard to imagine a whole lot of control will be happening any time soon.
Thursday, June 27, 9:30pm Fire is 1075 acres and 0% contained. But lines along the eastern edge of the fire held through 45mph winds. Reports sound quite optimistic that they’ve got a good handle on the fire. Smoke from the fire site appeared smaller, less intense than previous days – even with the big winds. So, maybe the worst is behind us?
Friday, June 28, 11:55am The wildfire is quite active today. We are watching many spot fires flare up on the rocky knolls northwest of the fire (about 4.5 miles from our place) and helicopters dropping water to try to put them out. The Oak Ridge Fire is far from over. New stats: 1,109 acres with 445 personnel working on the fire. That is a whole lot of people.
Saturday, June 29, 4:05pm Fire seems quieter today (except for lots of helicopter noise), minimal smoke, a few spot fires up on the Scraggy Peaks – copters hitting them hard with water drops.
10:30pm Fire is at 1,190 acres. Rained 0.04” at our place this evening.
Today’s USFS morning report on the fire says it rained between .1 and .2 inches overnight. Certainly not enough to put the fire out, but the moisture, along with higher humidity and a cool cloudy morning, have kept the fire quiet today. As evening approaches, a few small columns of smoke are all I can see from home.
A conversation we had with a couple of firefighters from out-of-town a little while ago, part of the large team fighting this fire, confirmed what I’ve been thinking – it is way too soon to say we are out of the woods with the Oak Ridge Fire. We’ve been here before, as this is not our first rodeo. Over the last twenty years, my town has had four major wildfires within five miles or so. We’ve been evacuated for two of those, and were on pre-evacuation for the third. Honestly, I am surprised we didn’t receive an evacuation or a pre-evacuation notice for this fire (a couple of parts of town have been on evac or pre-evac orders all week).
Like many folks in the western United States, I am well aware that the frequency, intensity and destructiveness of wildfires have increased dramatically. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), “Climate change, including increased heat, extended drought, and a thirsty atmosphere, has been a key driver in increasing the risk and extent of wildfires in the western United States during the last two decades….A 2021 study supported by NOAA concluded that climate change has been the main driver of the increase in fire weather in the western United States.” Of course, this increase is not limited to the western US: “Wildfires are increasing around the globe in frequency, severity and duration,” according to the World Health Organization (WHO). As one veteran wildland firefighter spokesperson said of a California wildfire a few years ago, “This fire wants to do whatever it wants. It’s defying all odds. 30 year, 40 year veterans have never seen this before.”
Living with the very frequent threat of wildfire – roughly every late April through October (although major wildfires have lately hit my home state of Colorado even in winter) – has a price. We have long ago made peace with the fact that losing our house and property to wildfire is a very real possibility. We have a few boxes with items that we often use and don’t want to lose to a fire packed and ready to go at all times. Several other boxes with other important items are at a friend’s house in Pueblo, our nearby city 25 miles from the mountains. When we are away from our place for any more than a few days, we usually take those ready-to-go boxes, along with my two guitars, to that friend’s house.
Will I soon be witnessing the “mop-up” of the Oak Ridge Fire? Or will a few days of hot, dry windy weather return and kick new life into the fire? Will it become another mega-fire, a massive wildfire burning tens of thousands of acres that Colorado and many other places have increasingly been experiencing? I don’t know the answers to these questions. At nearly 1200 acres, the Oak Ridge Fire is not a small fire. And it is burning in steep, rugged mountain terrain. What I do know is that I will not become complacent about it. I know firsthand just how quickly a wildfire that appears tame can roar back into life. I am ready to go if we have to. Such is life, living with wildfire.
Thanks for this detailed, informative writing. The single ng at the end was beautiful.
So glad you’re all safe. So admire the firefighters anywhere who choose this work! Thank you for such informative writing, Dave.