Fire in Grand County CO - 10.31.20 update

ppine wrote:

cptqueeg wrote:
The firefighters are probably having a tough time w the conditions. Nothing like waking up to a foot of new snow and then having to lace up the frozen White's boots for a nice 16 hour day in the cold.

Firefighters would give anything for a foot of snow.
Some other people do not like working outdoors.

Looks like another snowstorm is on the horizon for the weekend. Will see if it's over the fire areas, could be more of a southern event.

JAC1982 wrote:
Winding River Resort (the one popular with RVers) is OK. They only had minimal loss. Winding River Ranch, which is nearby and an event venue/guest ranch was destroyed.

Here's the update from Winding River Resort's Facebook page:
The East Troublesome Fire came in from the South and the 1st structures it encountered were at our Sasperilla Saloon (Before and After Photos). In addition to the Saloon we lost 2 large buildings and a small horse shed. All other barns, buildings, cabins, campsites and houses remain standing. The fire skirted around Winding River Resort property.

Update from Winding River Ranch:
We were devastated to learn about the total loss of The Winding River Ranch at the hands of the East Troublesome Fire that raged out of control last night.
As many of you know, the wildfires in Colorado took a turn towards Grand Lake last night. The Winding River Ranch was in the path of the fire, and all buildings were burned to the ground. This event venue and the animal sanctuary were destroyed; however, all of the animals, Granny, Travis, Kristin, and their staff, are all safe.

Thanks for the update and clarification. Bittersweet.

cptqueeg wrote:
The firefighters are probably having a tough time w the conditions. Nothing like waking up to a foot of new snow and then having to lace up the frozen White's boots for a nice 16 hour day in the cold.

Firefighters would give anything for a foot of snow.
Some other people do not like working outdoors.

Winding River Resort (the one popular with RVers) is OK. They only had minimal loss. Winding River Ranch, which is nearby and an event venue/guest ranch was destroyed.

Here's the update from Winding River Resort's Facebook page:
The East Troublesome Fire came in from the South and the 1st structures it encountered were at our Sasperilla Saloon (Before and After Photos). In addition to the Saloon we lost 2 large buildings and a small horse shed. All other barns, buildings, cabins, campsites and houses remain standing. The fire skirted around Winding River Resort property.

Update from Winding River Ranch:
We were devastated to learn about the total loss of The Winding River Ranch at the hands of the East Troublesome Fire that raged out of control last night.
As many of you know, the wildfires in Colorado took a turn towards Grand Lake last night. The Winding River Ranch was in the path of the fire, and all buildings were burned to the ground. This event venue and the animal sanctuary were destroyed; however, all of the animals, Granny, Travis, Kristin, and their staff, are all safe.

Just found out that the Elk Creek Campground, just outside Grand Lake, and down the road from Winding River Resort, did in fact survive the fire, according to their Facebook page. As posted earlier, the Winding River Resort was completely destroyed by the fire. Close proximity to each other, one survived, the other didn't.

And in the Cameron Peak fire to the north, also found out that nearly all of the USFS campgrounds in Poudre Canyon did survive the fire with little to no damage, with the exception of the Jacks Gulch CG, which sustained significant fire damage. Chambers Lake, Aspen Glen, Big Bend, Big South and Tunnel CGs all escaped the fire.

Thom02099 wrote:
Firefighters have been put up in the Stanley Hotel in Estes. They had a down day, as pointed out, due to the extreme cold and poor road conditions. It was interesting to look toward the foothills this morning and see what appeared to have been steam rising from the western view.

And in Grand Lake area, the Sheriff over there organized a certified group of folks to go in to evacuated houses and do everything they could to winterize the houses. His department put these folks in touch with homeowners to winterize as many houses as they possibly could, given the current weather conditions. HUGE KUDOS to Sheriff Brett Schroetlin of Grand County for thinking outside the box for a solution to a monumental problem.

Let's hope they do better than the folks who stayed there when it was called the Overlook Hotel in the Shining...

Firefighters have been put up in the Stanley Hotel in Estes. They had a down day, as pointed out, due to the extreme cold and poor road conditions. It was interesting to look toward the foothills this morning and see what appeared to have been steam rising from the western view.

And in Grand Lake area, the Sheriff over there organized a certified group of folks to go in to evacuated houses and do everything they could to winterize the houses. His department put these folks in touch with homeowners to winterize as many houses as they possibly could, given the current weather conditions. HUGE KUDOS to Sheriff Brett Schroetlin of Grand County for thinking outside the box for a solution to a monumental problem.

Oh and the town of Estes Park posted on their Facebook page to ask people to NOT visit right now for recreation purposes. That's sad they even had to post that.

They're keeping the firefighters in for another day today. The snow is done but the roads are not good and some areas up there got over a foot (hooray!). They are allowing some residents in Grand County back up to their properties too. I'm guessing we'll get a real picture tomorrow.

The firefighters are probably having a tough time w the conditions. Nothing like waking up to a foot of new snow and then having to lace up the frozen White's boots for a nice 16 hour day in the cold.