Fire in Grand County CO - 10.31.20 update

[Thom02099]

Another fire that has been growing rapidly. The East Troublesome Fire is reported to be moving into the west side of Grand Lake and the western border of RMNP. Mandatory evacuation order for the entire town of Grand Lake. Only real way to get out is south on US 34 to Granby, so they have made US 34 a one way highway southbound only.

H E R E East Troublesome and H E R E - 9News are 2 sources of information.

Snow is forecast for the weekend. CANNOT come soon enough.

[ppine]

Weather is always a factor. The worse the weather, the worse the fire.
The forests of Colorado suffer as much from neglect as any state in the US.

[2edgesword]

Sorry to hear about all the fires in CO. I have many friends there. One sent pictures of Estes Park fire and the town being evacuated. Hoping for the best.

[Thom02099]

Weather will now be a factor, and hopefully Mama Nature will change her mind about what's happening. SNOW is now forecast and here's hoping it is an upslope. My current weather alert is telling me to expect 8-12 inches of snow here in Loveland from Saturday through Monday. Hoping for even more in the high country.

ETA: On 9News tonight, it was reported that the East Troublesome and the Cameron Peak fires are less that 11 miles apart. Officials are now expressing concern that the 2 fires could combine into one mega-fire. Prayers that this does not happen.

ETA: Just reported at 10:13PM....the Grand Lake Lodge has survived the fire. Lodge manager reported to the news that it's safe for now.

[JAC1982]

It has now jumped the Divide and is burning in Rocky Mountain National Park. The west side of Estes Park has been evacuated including all the campgrounds.

[Pangaea_Ron]

I was living near there in 1972-73 and there were also large fires in the area.

My wife and I were driving on a mountain road and came around a corner to see a large home-built wooden camper that had just slid off the truck bed and was shattered down the steep rock slope. There were 10-12 people inside that were living in a commune nearby and were going to help fight the fires. Their bodies were also scattered down the rock face, most needing medical assistance. Another car came by and we sent them to get medical help (before cell phones). We scrambled down the slope to try to give aid as best we could, but several had died.

It was a truly traumatic experience. I now carry first-aid supplies in all of my vehicles not that it would have made a real difference.

[JAC1982]

Here is a link to the most up to date fire maps available. https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7242/

It's truly heartbreaking.

[JAC1982]

It has burned through Grand Lake. It appears the town area right on the lake is OK but all the surrounding areas of the town are burned. It appears Winding River Resort (a popular spot for RVers) may be affected. C Lazy U Ranch was affected as well as Grand Lake Lodge.

They now have closed all of Rocky Mountain National Park as the fire is headed that way. Hopefully it will die at the tree line before crossing over.

Many of these fires have started in National Forests where nothing has been done to deal with the beetle kill either. So it's not just a State problem.

[roam1]

When I stayed in Grand Lake years ago there were so many beetle kill trees in the area it made me uncomfortable, I hope they dodge this one and get cleaning up the forest.

[gkainz]

A number of years ago they apparently had a timber sale northwest of Kremmling, as beetle kill trees were cut and stacked in large landings all along the Forest Service Road above Red Dirt Reservoir, all tagged with signs "No Firewood cutting" or similar. Those landings stayed stacked for years after that and never got hauled away. I always wondered if the tree huggers got it stopped, the logging company went belly-up, or something else?
Sad shameful waste of trees.

[ppine]

Colorado is an example of a state that once had a very active program to deal with beetle killed trees. In the 1980s I used to have a logging company and made good money working on state felling contracts. I helped build a large log house near Grand Lake.

Those programs went away a long time ago. Now the State is paying the price for its short sightedness. Gig loggin or expect these fires to continue.