Boulder Fires

Those of you who watched the news earlier this week might have heard about the fires we've had near Boulder. It's been called the Fourmile Canyon Fire and it was in the mountains to the northwest of Boulder.

Monday morning was Labor Day so I was home for the holiday. At about 11:30 or so, I looked out the window and saw an extremely eerie orange glow on the building across from me. There was a moment when I thought that the glow might have been normal. How would I know because I'm usually never home at that time; I'm always at work. But the glow as just too eerie. Then I started to smell smoke. Having lived in Southern California where we've had our share of fires, I immediately knew that smell. And the smell of the smoke was bad and really strong. I went outside to look around to see where it was coming from and the sky was filled with smoke and the sun behind the smoke was red. It was odd and it felt like I was suddenly living on a different planet.

The fire itself was in the mountains maybe 15–20miles directly west of me, but the winds were blowing east and therefore blowing all the smoke in my direction. I immediately closed all my windows to keep the smoke out because it was really strong and almost too much to take. After about an hour or so I noticed that the sky was completely covered with smoke and ash started to fall from the sky.

There were mandatory evacuations once the fire broke out and thousands of people had to flee their homes and neighborhoods. Some had to leave immediately and didn't have much time to grab what they needed before leaving. Others, fortunately, had a few hours to pack up their cars.

I went back to work on Tuesday and the office smelled like smoke. The winds were still blowing the smoke in our direction and the air conditioner must have pulled the smoke in the office. A few people had to go home because they couldn't take it and I was starting to get headaches. We can see the mountains from our office, so naturally a few of us spent most of the day watching the smoke rise from the mountains. Every now and then we would see flames flash over the tops of the different mountain ranges.

As of right now, the fire is already 56 percent contained. Over 6,000 acres were burned and by the current count 169 homes were destroyed. A few firefighters were injured but were able to return to the lines, and so far, amazingly, there were no human lives lost in the fire. Now it is estimated that the fire destroyed $76.9 million in property. In spite of an occasional smell of smoke, it seems like things are relatively under control.

In spite of this tragedy that broke out, it was absolutely wonderful to see the Boulder community come together to help the evacuees. People were opening their homes and offering complete strangers a place to stay. The Humane Society was taking in pets to care for while people were displaced. And restaurants were offering free meals to evacuees and firefighters. It was simply comforting and heartwarming to see.