Colorado's most devastating Wildfire..."we didn't see it coming..."

[WillJ8787]

Source:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/31/thousands-evacuated-due-to-colorado-wildfires

People entered a Cost Co. on what appeared to be a normal day and we're told to run for their lives shortly after as a wildfire moving at near 50 mph closed in on them.

Folks in Colorado never saw anything like this and it is now Colorado's most deadly natural disaster.

So, is it just "shit happens" as some would have us believe or more proof that our climate is seriously off kilter?

 

[JohnnySavage]

While it's laudable that you seek to draw attention to the problem of climate change, associating climate change to one single event, demonstrates your ignorance on the subject. Please stop speaking to the issue.

 

[Aglaopheme]

Source:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/31/thousands-evacuated-due-to-colorado-wildfires

People entered a Cost Co. on what appeared to be a normal day and we're told to run for their lives shortly after as a wildfire moving at near 50 mph closed in on them.

Folks in Colorado never saw anything like this and it is now Colorado's most deadly natural disaster.

So, is it just "shit happens" as some would have us believe or more proof that our climate is seriously off kilter?

Most deadly? From what I understand, there have not been any know fatalities, yet.

 

[Chernosoth]

So, is it just "shit happens" as some would have us believe or more proof that our climate is seriously off kilter?

Wildfires without fatalities are fair warning to GTFO. Colorado can't support all the people who live there. Move or die.

 

[FantasyXY]

The wind blows here and so does mitigation

Source:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/31/thousands-evacuated-due-to-colorado-wildfires

People entered a Cost Co. on what appeared to be a normal day and we're told to run for their lives shortly after as a wildfire moving at near 50 mph closed in on them.

Folks in Colorado never saw anything like this and it is now Colorado's most deadly natural disaster.

So, is it just "shit happens" as some would have us believe or more proof that our climate is seriously off kilter?

1. Folks in Colorado have actually seen this sort of thing before. In a wild fire just north of Colorado Springs somewhere around 500 homes were destroyed. In an area called Black Forrest another file destroyed 100s of homes and killed people.

2. It's not just "shit happens", but it's not exactly climate change either. Due to the dry climate, Fires happen in Colorado, and due to the height of the mountains (not climate change) wind can be pretty extreme along what is called the Front Range. I've personally witnessed 145mph winds, ironically in that same area where this fire was. This kind of wind feeds a wild fire like a blast furnace, making it burn extremely hot and driving it from structure to structure (some reports say this fire advanced at 50+ MPH). Wind is also what likely started this fire as a 100mph+ gust took down a power line.

Colorado has building codes that take the wind into account structurally, but nothing has been done concerning fire, home spacing, and fire breaks. From what I could see, most of the homes lost in this fire were build too close together for the Colorado climate.

I live in Colorado, about halfway between this latest fire in Boulder County and the other two I mentioned. I've had to evacuate from my home because of an 1800 acre fire that fortunately ran out of fuel a few hundred yards from my neighborhood. That fire only destroyed one structure as where I live there is enough distance between the homes to maintain fire mitigation zones.

 

[Saint Peter]

i shopped at the evacuated costco many times. a guy being interviewed talked about seeing fire in the mountains before going into the store. i get that. fire is common in colorado. add wind, also common in that area, and stand back.

i moved away years ago with no regrets.

 

[KeithD]

Been watching this closely. One of my grandfathers had a huge ranch covering much of this area. Some cousins still in the Broomfield area. But all accounted for and untouched any more than smoke and ash.

 

[Hitchiker69]

Hardly a single event. For the last several years the fire season has expanded, and the fires are getting larger and more frequent.

https://www.fire.ca.gov/media/4jandlhh/top20_acres.pdf

 

[Dribble]

Choices ...just like wearing a mask and getting vaccinated.

 

[ForgottenSpouse]

Not climate change

What happened was tragic, but as stated it’s because it how communities are designed and built and crammed in out here. We are considered a high desert for climate out here. The mountains are what we depend on for snow pack for run off.

I live in the foothills and have to worry about wildfires not because of neighbors but because of hunters or people coming up to camp.

Right now our snow pack in the mountains are above avg, but honestly we don’t start to really look at till April, may, June with our biggest snow falls.

 

[toeskr]

Choices ...just like wearing a mask and getting vaccinated.

Yup. Everything is political, amirite?

 

[toeskr]

Willdribble87.

Lawlz!

 

[hobbit.]

AL Bowlly (the father of heavy metal) predicted this long before greta satchel in his epic song ''smoke gets in your eyes''