Wind-whipped fire jumps road, destroys homes
By Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News (Contact), Hector Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News (Contact), Kevin Vaughan, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published January 7, 2009 at 2:39 p.m.
Photo by Paul Aiken © Daily Camera
Residents evacuate animals in front of a fast moving grass fire Wednesday.
Photo by Dennis Schroeder © The Rocky
Firefighters continue to battle a 1,400-acre blaze on the outskirts of Boulder late Wednesday.
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BOULDER — A wind-driven wildfire that roared along the foothills north of town and briefly threatened the city opened a new front late Wednesday night - jumping a mountain road, consuming its third home and sparking a new round of evacuations.
The flames roared west over Olde Stage Road shortly after 10 p.m., swallowing one home and threatening several others just as firefighters had thought things had settled down for the night.
Dubbed the Olde Stage Road Fire, it earlier destroyed two other homes then retreated after burning next to the Dakota Ridge neighborhood just inside Boulder's northern city limits.
The new flare-up came after a day choked with smoke and fire in the foothills and ranchlands north of Boulder - blazes fed by relentless chinook winds that had, in recent days, sapped the moisture from grass and brush.
Wednesday, those winds - some clocked at more than 60 mph - fanned the flames that led authorities to tell an untold number of residents that they would not be able to return to their homes until sometime today, at the earliest.
"It's pretty scary," said Sharon Getman, 56. "We never had a situation where I had to evacuate. It's nerve-wracking to not know if the house will be there."
Getman gathered things that were important to her. Photos. Bibles. Flags from her grandparents. Clothes. Medications.
As she rushed about, friends and neighbors kept calling.
"There was so much smoke that you couldn't see anything," she said. "But we could see flames through the smoke."
Then she left.
Getman was one of more than 270 people who went to the emergency shelter at Niwot High School in search of answers. There she recounted a horrific sight - the fire taking a house.
"We could see the flames and smoke," she said. "We could see the house burn down."
Two firefighters injured
The day of wind and fire toppled utility poles across a wide area and left power lines strewn about, including several that were stretched across U.S. 36.
Two firefighters suffered relatively minor injuries - one twisted a knee, the other had smoke and debris blown into his eyes.
The blazes also led to the evacuation of hundreds of horses, llamas and other animals from the area northwest of Boulder Reservoir along U.S. 36.
The Boulder County Fairgrounds was converted into an emergency shelter of sorts for the animals, and others were taken to stables in the area.
In the fiery, smoky confusion, some residents, unable to get their horses into trailers, turned the animals loose.
Boulder County sheriff's Cmdr. Phil West said seven horses and at least one dog were unaccounted for.
Horse owners await word
Others who were in town working had to wait nervously for news.
Among them was Pamela Taylor, 52, of Louisville, who stood anxiously and tearfully at Niwot Road and North 63rd Street, trying to find out if her thoroughbred horse, Zorro, had been safely evacuated from the Green Tree stables.
Her cell phone rang. It was her trainer calling.
"Oh that's awesome," Taylor said. "That's wonderful news."
The trainer told her that Zorro had been evacuated to an area called Meadow Creek.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency made money available to help with firefighting costs.
In all, the flames consumed three homes, two barns and several smaller structures.
Power lines suspected
The trouble started at 12:48 p.m. when furious winds flattened a power pole near the intersection of North 49th Street and Neva Road, sparking a blaze that quickly ravaged a home.
Then came the big one - a second fire, thought to have started the same way, was reported in the 7200 block of Olde Stage Road at 1:38 p.m.
The blaze grew through the afternoon and evening to 1,000 acres. The winds blew so fiercely that they apparently cast embers more than three miles away, sparking a small blaze along U.S. 36 near Hygiene Road.
"The whole neighborhood was filled with smoke," said Elise Marylander. "It was difficult to breathe, and hard to see.
"I was on the phone and I looked out the window and it was extremely windy. There was all sorts of trash flying down the neighborhood."
Marylander fled with her three teen-age children and two dogs.
By then, authorities had begun notifying residents with reverse 911 calls to get out - by evening, more than 1,100 homes had been contacted.
As day turned to night, a fiery glow rose from the hills along the west side of U.S. 36 just outside Boulder, and residents in the Dakota Ridge area stood nervously watching the flames as they crept dangerously close to the neighborhood, then backed away.
"The wind has been picking up and then it'll die," said Linda Gutekunst, 50, who lives near Niwot Road and North 63rd Street in unincorporated Boulder County. "But then it just picks up again."
Then, just as firefighters began looking forward to today - and predictions of calmer winds - the flames erupted anew and jumped Olde Stage Road.
By 11 p.m., authorities had issued evacuation orders to 391 more homes in the Boulder Heights and Lazy Acres neighborhoods and along the north side Lee Hill Road.
Those orders came just a short time after Cmdr. West had expressed optimism about today's weather forecast. It had called for much calmer winds.
Staff writers Bill Scanlon, Tillie Fong, Jerd Smith and Berny Morson contributed to this report.
January fires
In January 2006, eight fires in Colorado burned 7,500 acres. Among those:
* A Jefferson County fire that burned 2,700 acres near the intersection of Colorado 72 and Colorado 93 west of the old Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant.
* A blaze in Mauricio Canyon in southern Colorado leveled five homes and about 10 buildings after flaring across 5,000 acres.
* A blaze burned 400 acres near Carter Lake west of Berthoud.
The Olde Stage Road Fire
* 11,250 calls made to residents to evacuate
* 3 houses lost, 2 barns burned
* 150 firefighters on the scene
* 1,000 acres burned
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January 7, 2009
3:18 p.m.
Suggest removal
BacklashSchitzka writes:
I sure hope she was insured. I love gandering at her llamas whenever I drive on that road.
January 7, 2009
4:12 p.m.
Suggest removal
TheGraphite writes:
The first person who says this is God's divine wrath on the "People's Republic of Boulder" will get a sharp beating about the head and shoulders with a large trout from yours truly.
January 7, 2009
4:25 p.m.
Suggest removal
Illegallydead writes:
lol I'm glad it wasn't / isn't in the city of Boulder itself. I live in the Gold Run apartments and every time I hear the words "fire" and "Boulder" I start looking around outside my window to make sure it isn't next door (again)
I know some people who live up that way though, I sure hope this doesn't reach them...
Perhaps a map could get posted to the story or something RMN?
January 7, 2009
4:40 p.m.
Suggest removal
blacksho89 writes:
This fire is Xcel Energy's wrath on the People's Republic of Boulder for opposing new coal fired plants.
January 7, 2009
4:49 p.m.
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TheVentilator writes:
TheGraphite writes about being beaten with a trout.....Is that a Trouser Trout?
January 7, 2009
5:01 p.m.
Suggest removal
Scott writes:
Will someone please throw a bucket of cold water on TheVentilator! ;-)
If TheGraphite can promise that they will convince my wife to beat me, then I'll say it! :-)
Scott
January 7, 2009
5:02 p.m.
Suggest removal
Jason writes:
Amazing pictures RMN!
January 7, 2009
5:05 p.m.
Suggest removal
BetterEducated writes:
Prayers for all affected by this fire. Nobody can relate to wildfire quite like people who live in the mountains. We have certainly seen our share here in Bailey and, take my word for it, the Beauty dies fast when it is in flames.
January 7, 2009
5:43 p.m.
Suggest removal
mcge8715 writes:
It is the almighty bringing his wrath down upon the people of Boulder
January 7, 2009
5:47 p.m.
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TheDenverB writes:
graphite, i have a large frozen salmon i can contribute to the cause.
January 7, 2009
6:01 p.m.
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BobVance writes:
No no no people, it's just a drum circle.
January 7, 2009
6:06 p.m.
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Beau writes:
I live in Erie and I'm watching the fire right now. My son says it looks like the fires of Mt. Doom. An entire swath of the foothills is a sea of glowing red coals, and the front edge of the huge fire is burning south towards Boulder.
Now that the wind has died down I think the firefighters will get a handle on it. In the dark and the cold, fighting a fire is terribly dangerous. Please spare a prayer for these brave firefighters, police, and rescue people.
January 7, 2009
7:13 p.m.
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PastaBender writes:
I'm just really confused ... they talk about the fire starting North of Boulder, up by Neva Road ... then they give a 739 Grant Place address which is down South by Baseline Road ... What?
January 7, 2009
7:19 p.m.
Suggest removal
CaptainObvious writes:
In this wind, those firefighters are working miracles. I hope the gusts lay down into the night so they can get some lines cut. Regardless of what the wind does, those guys and girls fighting it are studs. I hold them in highest regard.
And TheGraphite, how about a herring?
January 7, 2009
7:38 p.m.
Suggest removal
Outside_the_Box writes:
This is very similar to the Santa Ana wind conditions in Southern California that erupt every fall. The problem with us is that there isnt any snow on the ground and these winds have been s*cking the moisture out of vegetation for the last couple weeks. Not good. You can see a bright red/orange glow on the foothills straight north of Boulder. Seems to be moving South down the foothills towards the city...
January 7, 2009
8:02 p.m.
Suggest removal
SteveC writes:
This is God's divine wrath on the "People's Republic of Boulder".
Sorry I just couldn't resist.
January 7, 2009
8:06 p.m.
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SDcat writes:
What is wrong with you people and this talk of God's revenge? Would you be happy if people or animals die?
God forgive you!
January 7, 2009
8:12 p.m.
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Outside_the_Box writes:
SteveC, get a life dude. During a disaster you put your freaking politics aside and help your fellow American.
January 7, 2009
9:27 p.m.
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Mark Brown writes:
Um, I think that was a joke.
January 7, 2009
9:41 p.m.
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SDcat writes:
Um,inappropriate(and unfunny) "joke"...during a difficult time. Shame on those "jokesters".
January 7, 2009
9:53 p.m.
Suggest removal
AvsIn7 writes:
What about the prairie dogs? They should be setting up tiny Red Cross stations.
Why do the humans always get the preferential treatment? It's not fair.
Tragic.
January 8, 2009
6:28 a.m.
Suggest removal
LOUIE writes:
That has got to be a terrible thought, waitting for news if your house is going to burn or not. MCGE8715, 5:43pm, actually it's God bring His people closer to His heart. What profit a man to gain the world and lose his own soul? Believe me, when you see disaster strike, even death itself, how many are brought closer to the heart of God by these calamities for which man stands powerless before nature itself? When you have nothing, you are truly humbled, and there isn't but One who stands with you, even unto the ends of the earth.