Wednesday, June 27, 2012

And It Burns, Burns, Burns

More fires in Colorado including the one burning into the city of Colorado Springs and the one burning west of the city of Boulder. Why is "The Springs" burning and Boulder proper not? After watching Denver television coverage I can actually answer that question.

At one Boulder County press conference yesterday Kim Kobel of the Boulder Police Department said that what was happening in Colorado Springs would not happen in Boulder because homes in Colorado Springs were built in the meadows in the foothills west of town and then up the side of the mountains making it difficult to fight the fire. Since this was not allowed in Boulder County the city would be safe. Firefighters have been able to keep the fire about one-and-a-half-miles away from the city of Boulder so her assessment seems to be correct so far.

Closer to home, there was a 70 square mile fire burning on the Colorado eastern plains yesterday which started when a truck on Highway 36 blew a tire and sparks from the tire rim set the grass near the road on fire. To the east of us here in Kansas there was a grass fire that burned 5,000 acres which started when an overheated car pulled to the side of the road and set grass on fire.

One word that describes conditions out here is tinderbox.

At home, the county commissioners have issued a fire ban that includes fireworks. This ban does not cover the town I live in and the city council, for some reason, has decided not to ban fireworks inside the city limit. Like I said, I dread the 4th of July holiday this year.

Update:Late yesterday afternoon the city council announced that fireworks are now banned inside the city limits.

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