Wild Fires

[American Patriot]

If this is jijadists folks, they are opening a can of whoopass they won't be able to stop.

I daresay I don't give a fuck about "government" when it comes to that. If they started this, the American People WILL fucking end it, and their attempt to dominate the world.

[American Patriot]

Makita just shared his thinking on this.

All deaths, regardless whether it is obvious or a suicide are treated as "homicides". Therefore they investigate all deaths as if criminal intent caused them from the beginning, and work out the details of the death, events surrounding the death, and other information to try to get to the point whether it was actually intentionally caused.

I'll give him that.

I'd prefer that someone investigate a death with an open mind rather than assigning a "reason" to it before hand because you can cloud judgement and objectivity..... but what do I know?

[vector7]

Black Forest fire likely caused by human, El Paso County Sheriff says

By Jordan Steffen, Kurtis Lee, Kieran Nicholson and Ryan Parker
The Denver Post
Posted: 06/14/2013 08:34:49 AM MDT



BLACK FOREST — Investigators looking into the origin and cause of the devastating Black Forest fire believe it's likely that someone started the blaze, El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa said Friday.

"I'm pretty confident that natural causes will be out the window," he said. With two deaths already blamed on the fire, investigators will focus on whether the cause was arson or an accident.

"We didn't have lightning in the area. Lightning is usually one of the contributing factors we first look at in the area when it come to natural causes," Maketa said.



Trees smolder in the midst of the Black Forest fire on June 13, 2013. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)


He also said there were no rocks near the area of origin that could have been involved in a slide that would have created a spark.

Firefighters continued to battle the fire north of Colorado Springs that has consumed 15,700 acres and 379 homes since it started Tuesday.Some 38,000 people are impacted in the mandatory evacuation zone that covers 24 square miles, stretching from Elbert County to the northern part of Colorado Springs.

Two people are confirmed to have died in the fire. Their names have not been released.

"What I witnessed was very encouraging compared to the previous night," Maketa told a Friday morning news briefing. "Yesterday we made some tremendous ground ... especially when it came to structure protections."

Maketa said infrared mapping showed the fire footprint remained in the area of 13,000-15,00 acres overnight.

No cause of the fire has been identified. The sheriff's office has set up a tip line for anyone who might have information:

[IMG]chrome://skype_ff_extension/skin/numbers_button_skype_logo.png[/IMG]719-444-8393 or Blackforestfiretipline@elpasoco.com

Maketa also mentioned that his office did not have reports of looting or burglaries Thursday night.

He praised the efforts of volunteers with trailers who have been gathering up loose animals.

Fighting the fire has been hampered by high temperatures and gusty winds in the area, but the weekend forecast calls for cooler, cloudy weather,
Photos: Black Forest wildfire

• View more photos from the Black Forest fire near Colorado Springs.
• View aerial images of the Black Forest fire destruction.
• Watch raw video of the Black Forest fire on June 11, 2013
• Watch Black Forest fire evacuees tell their stories.
• Watch El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa talk about the Black Forest fire on June 12, 2013
• Raw video: Mules escape the Black Forest fire

with winds are leveling off.On a lighter note, Maketa encouraged people to wash their cars and park them outside, and that doing so will guarantee rain in the area. The proposal garnered chuckles.

Rich Harvey, the commander of the federal incident-management team that took over firefighting duties early Thursday, estimated containment remained at 5 percent.

He said Friday morning that he is optimistic after efforts Thursday night and agreed that firefighters had a good night. "Everywhere we have grass, we are winning," he told a morning news briefing.

He said that aviation assets are strong and the heavy air tankers are expected to be flying again Friday.

Although turning "the corner is a good ways away, we are certainly moving toward turning the corner," Harvey said.

Most of the fuel for the fire is ponderosa pine and gamble oak brush dispersed on hilly terrain and in ditches.

"Fuels out there are extremely dry — in fact as dry as they've ever been," Harvey said. "That's what we're finding."

The evacuation area that spans from the northern part of Colorado Springs up into Elbert County remains in place. The Colorado Springs fire chief, Tommy Smith, told a morning news conference that as a precaution, the city's order that includes the Flying Horse neighborhood is not expected to be lifted Friday.

On the north side of the fire, Douglas County stationed a team at Franktown with four brush trucks, an engine, a water tanker and a helicopter. Pre-evacuation notices were issued for the southeast corner of the county.

The Red Cross has sent up evacuation centers at Palmer Ridge High School and and the recreation center at the Colorado Springs campus of the University of Colorado.

A citizens' service center has been set up at 1645 Garden of the Gods Road to help coordinate aid efforts including child care, pet care, housing, insurance and other benefits. Hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. The center can be reached at [IMG]chrome://skype_ff_extension/skin/numbers_button_skype_logo.png[/IMG]719 444-8301 .

The sheriff's office has said it will continue to evaluate the homes in the burn area and post information online as quickly as possible. The sheriff warned that the numbers could still change. Maketa said Friday morning that about 2,200 homes have been surveyed.

The number of homes destroyed makes the fire the most destructive in Colorado history. The Waldo Canyon fire in 2012 destroyed 347 homes.
Maketa said at a news conference late Thursday afternoon that firefighters found the bodies of two people in the rubble of the Black Forest fire. The bodies were discovered in what was the garage of a home that the blaze leveled. They were next to a car with its doors open. The car's trunk was packed full of belongings.

Although Maketa did not say who authorities believe the victims are, he said investigators have spoken to someone who talked to the victims by phone at 5 p.m. Tuesday, just hours after the fire started. In the background of the phone call, the person could hear popping and crackling sounds.

Want to use this map in Google Earth? Download the KML file here

[Phil Fiord]

As I have lived in southern California, I am up to par on experience with living in fire zones active or not. Perhaps one will recall the Topanga Fire in 2004. October. At that time I was living in Simi Valley. That was a time when I think 7 separate fires were raging. Yes, some were set on purpose. That fire formed a ring around my home city and trapped the citizens in the valley. Diligent work on the part of the fire fighters and in some cases, citizens, prevented substantial damage in the valley. I spent some of my time during that fire at my friends business on the east side of town as he had roof access. There I watched with him and took pictures. 2 of three local cell towers melted I was later told as well.

There are firebugs who wait until the Santa Ana winds are predicted and do their evil deeds. I suspect Colo has the same kind of filth of a human or two. Terrorists of foreign origin or one that was born here does not matter. The purposeful setting of fires harms people. It makes for death, financial loss and often many injuries. So, origin is no matter, they are acting against the people of our country and deserve to be treated no better than the filth they are.

I recall one year living in Orange County CA, there was a large fire in Laguna that was heading north and into Newport Beach and Irvine. That was a bad year there too.

[American Patriot]

There were predictions this would be a bad fire week prior to the fires. We knew early on in the week that we were going to have very dry conditions, high winds out of the west, no rain predicted and HOT.

The same conditions existed over in Waldo Canyon last year, and they made sure the public knew it.

We knew by Wednesday there had been no lightning. The NWS has a lightning "detector" and can tell where the strikes occur.

I don't think this was a 'firebug'.

Remember I mentioned a close family friend contacting me while travling along I25 stating he saw an EOD team that wasn't out "doing exercise". They were not in a normal formation and they were looking for someone along the freeway.

I suspect the Al Qaeda probably has some guys here, or working for them, and they are reading stuff in that magazine about "ember bombs". I have a sneaky suspicion that Makita is pretty pissed about this because the conditions were the same and he probably has information we don't have yet; like that Waldo Canyon and Black Forest have the same "symptoms" (the ignition sources probably are the same, or very, very similar).

We still don't know all the data (hasn't been released) about Waldo Canyon.

Here's something else.

The fire that started LAST year started in a heavily wooded area, with a heavy population and it moved north and east across the mountain.

The fire that started LAST WEEK started in a heavily wooded area, with a heavy population and it moved north and east (and west).

BOTH fires threatened the Air Force Academy.

On Monday a fire was started in a heavily wooded area of the Air Force Academy proper, about 2 miles from the main cadet area. It was spotted quickly by some keen eyed observers and fire fighters (military) got in there and put it out before it got more than 100 X 100 feet around, but from what I heard they had difficulty getting there.

There WAS NO LIGHTNING ON MONDAY EITHER.

I don't know what the investigation is saying yet, but it was called "a suspicious fire".

On Monday I could see the fire on the AFA from my work (probably 40 miles away).

On Tuesday as I was leaving work I saw the smoke from the Black Forest Fire (about 12 miles from my work and NW of here) and from what I have read the fire started at around 2:20 pm or so, and I left at 2:35 and it was already HUGE apparently.


So an update. 17,200 acres is what I heard this morning. 483 homes are gone. About 65% contained at this point.

Thousands are still displaced. Some people from my work lost their homes, some from my wife's work we believe lost their homes as well.

Containment means simply they have "contained the fire" inside the boundaries they've set - and the fire is still burning and still doing damage. They think they should have 100% containment on Thursday or Friday at this point.

Evac areas have been reduced in size, and some are being allowed back in the areas. Places that are "gone" have had some folks allowed in to see.

Makita stated this morning that this whole area is considered a crime scene because of the deaths of two people.

At Sun 6/16/2013 11:59 AM the District 14 ARES was stood down from support, meaning that they didn't need the Hams any more.

[American Patriot]

U.S. News

Investigators believe someone started Black Forest fire in Colorado

Published: June 14, 2013 at 9:05 PM





COLORADO SPRINGS, June 14 (UPI) -- Investigators believe someone started the Black Forest wildfire north of Colorado Springs, which has killed two people and destroyed 400 homes, officials said.


"I'm pretty confident that natural causes will be out the window," El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa said Friday. "With two deaths already blamed on the fire, investigators will focus on whether the cause was arson or an accident.


"We didn't have lightning in the area. Lightning is usually one of the contributing factors we first look at in the area when it comes to natural causes," Maketa said.


Light rain was reported in the area Friday, and all mandatory evacuation orders in Colorado Springs were lifted, but the fire remained 30 percent contained, and evacuation orders near the fire's edge were still in place, The Denver Post reported.


The fire has consumed 15,700 acres since it began Tuesday.


"What I witnessed was very encouraging, compared to the previous night," Maketa said earlier. "Yesterday we made some tremendous ground, especially when it came to structure protections."


Two people are confirmed to have died in the fire, the Post said. Their names have not been released.



Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/...#ixzz2WTswdJok

[American Patriot]

Black Forest Fire: Containment up to 65%, 14,198 acres burned, ATF helping arson investigators

Some evacuated homes burglarized

• Video
• Photos

Posted: 06/16/2013
Last Updated: 1 hour ago

• TheDenverChannel.com Team

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Crews are gaining ground in the fight against Colorado's most destructive wildfire.


Containment was up to 65 percent Sunday, El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa said.


However, no new evacuation orders are expected to be lifted Sunday, Sheriff Maketa said.


The area is considered a crime scene, Maketa said. Hazards like downed trees and power lines and road damage are making it unsafe for many evacuees to return home.


As of Sunday morning, the wildfire had burned 14,198 acres and has already cost more than $5.2 million to fight.


- Sunday's attack plan
All military helicopters were being released Sunday, Lt. Colonel Mitch Utterback with the Colorado National Guard said.


So far, helicopters have dropped 1,297 buckets over the fire. That's more than 800,000 gallons of water.


No ground troops are being released yet, said Incident Commander Rich Harvey.


More than 1,100 personnel have been involved in fighting the fire, officials said Sunday. Their resources include 103 engines, two bulldozers, 28 water tenders, and four helicopters.


- Evacuees and burglary victims
More than 20,000 people and 7,017 homes remain evacuated Sunday. That's down from 38,000 people who were evacuated on Friday.


Authorities also raised the number of homes in the fire area that are apparently undamaged from 3,181 to 3,615 Sunday afternoon.


View a complete list of the homes lost: http://ch7ne.ws/13CR4lB


The two people who died in the fire could be identified on Monday, Maketa said Sunday. They were apparently caught by the firestorm as they were loading their car in the garage while attempting to evacuate on Tuesday afternoon.


All missing people have now been accounted for, said Maketa Sunday.


The El Paso County Sheriff's office said it is now dedicating "tremendous resources” to protecting evacuated homes.

There have been four burglaries reported already, Maketa said.


James Hawkins home is one of the four.


"You feel violated," said Hawkins. "What type of scumball would do this? And is it worth it?"


He says the burglars dumped out drawers, looking for jewelry.


"They tried to take the real stuff, but they didn’t get that much because we took the best with us," he said with a smile.


L t Jeff Kramer said they have learned from past fires to saturate the evacuation zone with roving patrols and high-visibility police presence.


However, he said, they can’t be everywhere all the time.


Last year, during the Waldo Canyon Fire police arrested two looters who burglarized a home in the evacuation zone. Last month, a judge sentenced Shane Garrett to 48 years in prison, and Belinda Wells-Yates got 42 years.


"So perhaps recent past events with following through and those people serving stiff penalties could serve as a deterrent to these crimes in the future," said Lt. Jeff Kramer, El Paso County Sheriff’s spokesman.


National Guard troops are at checkpoints to prevent unauthorized entries into the evacuation area, Utterback said.


- Investigation

The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms is helping arson investigators zero in on point of origin, Maketa said Sunday.


Investigators believe the fire was human-caused.


To help investigations, the sheriff's office has set up two ways for people to submit tips -- a phone line at 719-444-8393 and an email address:

blackforestfiretipline@elpasoco.com


The fire erupted Tuesday June 11, outside of Colorado Springs, driven by hot temperatures and strong winds.

[American Patriot]

BATFE doesn't get involved unless explosives were involved.

[American Patriot]

Colorado fire considered a crime scene

• 2 hours ago
  by Web Desk
  

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado — As hundreds of firefighters began to get the upper hand on a huge blaze near Colorado Springs, Colorado, investigators stepped up their probe into the cause of the most destructive wildfire in the state’s history.


The 16,000-acre Black Forest Fire, which was 65% contained Sunday, is now considered a crime scene, according to El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa, who said it will be some time before residents will be allowed to go home permanently.


“We have a crime scene in there. We have fire in there. We have downed power lines in there. We have trees falling each time there is a gust of wind,” he said, adding he was calling it a crime scene until proven otherwise.


The sheriff said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has been called in, along with state authorities.




“It has far expanded beyond just my arson investigator,” he said Sunday. “We have brought experts in to give us the greatest possible chance to not only determine the cause, but whether there was criminal intent or not.”


No explanation was given for the crime scene designation.


The revelation comes as fire teams made significant progress against the flames northeast of Colorado Springs over the weekend, with containment growing from 5% to 65% in just a few days time.


And the forecast continues to look promising.


The National Weather Service says highs will be in the upper 70s through Tuesday, with up to a 40% change of rain each day and light winds.


Temperatures in the 90s, little rain and blustery winds fueled the Black Forest Fire in its early days.


Read more: http://q13fox.com/2013/06/17/colorad...#ixzz2WTvMK6nY

[American Patriot]

June 17, 2013 Expert warns terrorists may be setting wildfires across American West

Colorado‘s Black Forest fire is barely contained at latest reports and has killed at least two people while consuming hundreds of homes and other structures and forcing the evacuation of more than 38,000 people, but a dozen other significant fires are also burning across the country, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

Colorado has two other active fires besides the Black Forest blaze, while New Mexico has five, California and Oregon each have two, and Idaho has one. The NIFC has counted 19,472 fires through June 14, compared with 24,198 for the same Jan. 1-June 14 period in 2012.

The NIFC’s historical data shows suggests no consistent pattern of increase or decrease of during the past decade, but wildfires can be categorized in a variety of ways and some national security experts warn that terrorists associated with al Qaeda and other radical Muslim outfits view such conflagrations as tools in their war against the U.S., Israel and Europe.


Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld of the New York-based American Center for Democracy’s Economic Warfare Institute warns that last July “al-Qaeda’s English-language online magazine, Inspire, published an article called ‘It Is of Your Freedom to Ignite a Firebomb,’ which featured instructions on how to build an incendiary bomb to light forests on fire.


“A few months later, Russia’s security (FSB) chief, Aleksandr Bortnikov warned, ‘al-Qaeda was complicit in recent forest fires in Europe’ as part of the terrorists’ ‘strategy of a thousand cuts.’ Bortnikov spoke of ‘extremist sites [that] contained detailed instructions of waging the forest jihad and stressed that such a method had proved itself effective as it inflicted both physical and moral damage, needed little training or investment and it was extremely hard for police to find and apprehend the arsonists.’



“Since then, more fatwas advocating that ‘Fire is cheap, easy and effective tool for economic warfare’ have been issued. They’ve included detailed instructions for constructing remote-controlled ‘ember bombs, and how to set fires without leaving a trace.’”


Ehrenfeld notes that, while many of the recent wildfires in the U.S. have been attributed by law enforcement officials to arsonists none have pointed to al Qaeda as being responsibility for any of them. Even so, Ehrenfeld warns that al Qaeda isn’t the only illegal outfit that might have an interest in setting wildfires in the U.S., pointing to the presence in this country of numerous Mexican gangs linked to the drug cartels.


source: Washington Examiner / Mark Tapscott

[American Patriot]

Fire Wars – Forest Jihad in America

June 17, 2013 10:40 am 3 comments

Author:

Rachel Ehrenfeld



Smoke rises from fire in Israel in early July, 2012. Photo: wiki commons.



American focus on the NSA “leaks” diverts attention from real existential threats and economic devastation that for now affects mostly the West.


The fire raging in Colorado Springs forced William (Bill) Scott and his wife Linda to evacuate their home. Last we spoke, Bill didn’t know if they’ll have a home to return to.


As of Saturday afternoon, June 15, the apparent arson that set Colorado’s Black Forest on fire last Tuesday killed at least two people and destroyed and damaged more than 388 homes. The fire that burned 15,500 acres led to the evacuation of 38,000 people. The six-hour delay of federal air tankers to help extinguish the fast spreading fire didn’t help. All the while, local law enforcement and firefighters have been collecting whatever evidence they can find to identify the arsonist(s).


Bill Scott, a senior fellow at ACD, warned about such a scenario last July, speaking at the ACD/EWI Economic Threats briefing on Capital Hill. An expert on aerial firefighting, he presented a sobering analysis of the devastating Waldo Canyon Fire, pointing out that the striking rise Western U.S. wildfires may be caused by elements other than nature.


He noted that in spring 2012, al-Qaeda’s English-language online magazine, Inspire, published an article called “It Is of Your Freedom to Ignite a Firebomb,” which featured instructions on how to build an incendiary bomb to light forests on fire.


A few months later, Russia’s security (FSB) chief, Aleksandr Bortnikov warned, ”al-Qaeda was complicit in recent forest fires in Europe” as part of the terrorists’ “strategy of a thousand cuts.”


Bortnikov spoke of “extremist sites [that] contained detailed instructions of waging the ‘forest jihad’ and stressed that such a method had proved itself effective as it inflicted both physical and moral damage, needed little training or investment and it was extremely hard for police to find and apprehend the arsonists.”


Since then, more fatwas advocating that “Fire is cheap, easy and effective tool for economic warfare” have been issued. They’ve included detailed instructions for constructing remote-controlled “ember bombs, and how to set fires without leaving a trace.”


Fire wars are not limited to Europe and the U.S. Palestinan jihadists have been setting fire to Israel’s modest forests for many years. However, political correctness seems to override Israeli and Russian warnings of that jihadist modus operandi. How many Tzarnaevs are hiding in Colorado’s woods?


While many of the fires that have scorched millions of acres and destroyed thousands of homes in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and other states have been identified as arson, none have been publicly attributed to criminal or terrorist groups, despite the presence of Mexican gangs and large number of other illegals in our Western states


Bill Scott’s “Fire Wars” presentation on YouTube led several Colorado legislators to propose a bill to allow the formation of Colorado’s Firefighting Air Corps. “In military terms, Colorado is a target-rich environment – an arsonist’s dream-come-true, and the U.S. Forest Service’s worst nightmare,” Scott said while giving a riveting testimony before the state Senate a few months ago. He went on to say that “Colorado wildfires took six lives, destroyed 647 homes and consumed $48 million in fire suppression costs. And we are one match or lightning strike away from a disaster that will make 2012 look like a GOOD year.


“Consider this scenario: A hot day with humidity levels below 10 percent. High winds, blowing into a dead-end valley, toward a picture-perfect town on the shore of a large mountain lake. Also watching the weather, an Islamic jihadist decides, ‘Today’s the day.’ He takes off in a rented Cessna 172 and flies across the mouth of that valley, pitching lighted road flares from the airplane. In a matter of minutes, a wall of fire with flames topping 200 feet roars up that valley, trapping hundreds of tourists and citizens.


“The local U.S. Forest Service district ranger issues a top-priority emergency call for fire-fighting air tankers, noting that lives and property are in imminent danger. A harried federal dispatcher responds with this chilling truth: ‘We’re out of air resources. We’re fighting fires all over the nation, and all federal assets are committed. You folks are on your own.’


“Within hours, the small Colorado town burns to the ground and hundreds of trapped people die horrific deaths. After-action reviews conclude that the deadly fire was ignited by an al Qaeda terrorist – who was never caught – and all fatalities were attributable to ‘insufficient firefighting resources.’ If large air tankers had been deployed in a timely manner, a protective corridor through the conflagration could have been created, providing an escape route.


“Some will scoff and dismiss that scenario as mere fiction, noting that Colorado has never suffered such a disastrous fire. True, but we’re in a new era, facing a perfect storm of unprecedented elements: Drought; tinder-dry beetle-kill trees blanketing millions of acres; a real-and-present terrorist threat; and a cash-strapped, dysfunctional federal land-management agency that has less than a dozen large air tankers to serve the entire nation.”


Indeed, a state firefighting airforce would make Colorado independent of the cash-strapped, dysfunctional federal land-management agency, reducing the response time from six hours to 20 minutes. Colorado’s Senate Bill 245 was reluctantly approved last April by the Democratic majority; however, it refused to allocate the funds necessary to buy the air tankers. It was signed into law last week by Colorado’s Governor John Hickenlooper.


Ironically, Bill and his wife had to evacuate exactly one week after the unfunded bill was signed into law, and the worst fire in Colorado history was raging, endangering the state’s citizens, its forests and economy.


In California alone, during the first two weeks of June, wild land fires have already surpassed the total cost of the last two years of firefighting in rural areas.
Most U.S. state economies seem to be rebounding this year. However, recovery from anticipated natural disasters could easily deplete their treasuries. There is little that can be done to prevent hurricane destruction. However, states, as well as the federal government, could and should more to do to minimize the effects of man-made forest fires.


NOTE: As this goes to print, we learned that the winds changed and that the Black Forest fire is now 45 percent contained. However, this may not be over. Change in the wind could spark the embers and ignite new fires.

[American Patriot]

East Peak at Spanish Peaks. South of Colorado Springs and Pueblo. Reports are this fire is completely out of control as of late last night and was burning up the sides of the mountains.

[American Patriot]

WILDFIRE ROUNDUP: Highway closed, pre-evacuation order given

By Scott Rappold Published: June 20, 2013 | 9:35 pm • Leave a comment

The view of the East Peak fire from Colorado State Veterans Nursing Home. (via Twitter)

Multimedia

Photosview all photos

Five wildfires continued to burn around Colorado on Thursday, some of them causing smoky conditions along the Front Range.


Also, U.S 160 has been closed at Wolf Creek Pass because of the West Fork fire, the Colorado Department of Transportation confirmed Thursday.


West Fork fire


The main culprit of the haze in Colorado Springs is the West Fork fire, burning near Wolf Creek Pass in the San Juan Mountains in Mineral County.


The blaze has been burning since June 5, but it exploded Thursday, from 3,800 to 8,375 acres, devouring a huge swath of beetle-killed spruce trees in the Weminuche Wilderness Area.


Area campgrounds remain open, though the popular West Fork Trail (Trail No. 561) that goes to the backcountry pools known as Rainbow Hot Springs, is closed, as is East Fork Road. Many area residents have been put on pre-evacuation notice.


On the other side of Highway 160, the Windy Pass fire also more than tripled in size Wednesday, from 191 to 709 acres, threatening the Wolf Creek Ski Area. According to the Archuleta County Sheriff's Office, the flames have moved to within a quarter-mile of the ski area. Keeping the fire from the ski area is the main focus of Thursday's firefighting efforts. The latter fire was started by lightning June 14.


East Peak fire


At 9 p.m. Thursday the town of Walsenburg was put on pre-evacuation notice, according to scanner traffic.


A fire near the Spanish Peaks in rural Huerfano County in southern Colorado led to mandatory evacuations Wednesday night.


The East Peak fire destroyed a Boy Scout camp late Wednesday and some homes. Flames were reaching 150 to 200 feet into the air and 1,000 acres are now burning, according to the sheriff's office.


The American Red Cross opened an evacuation shelter at John Mall High School, 355 W. Pine St, in Walsenburg.



Lime Gulch fire


This fast-moving fire near Conifer was sparked by lightning Tuesday and has grown to 600 acres. More than 100 people were evacuated Wednesday.


No structures have burned. Waterton Canyon State Park was closed Thursday because of the fire, according to The Denver Post.


A Type 2 management team took command of the fire Thursday. During a Thursday afternoon news conference, officials said 20 to 30 homes remained threatened by fire.
The fire is causing health concerns for the Denver area and other parts of the Front Range, The Denver Post reports.


Areas that could see thick smoke from the fire Thursday include: Foxton, Buffalo Creek, Roxborough Park, Highlands Ranch, Castle Pines, Parker and Centennial.

Bull Gulch fire


This fire started Wednesday north of U.S. 50 on U.S. Bureau of Land Management lands, about one mile east of Table Mountain, and about nine miles northwest of the intersection of Road Gulch and Copper Gulch Road, according to the Canon City Daily Record.


The Bull Gulch fire tripled in size overnight to 150 acres. The Texas Creek trail system, popular among off-highway-vehicle enthusiasts, is closed.


The fire is burning in brush, pi?n and juniper trees. Eight smokejumpers and two 20-person firefighting crews will work through the night. Two single-engine air tankers worked Wednesday dropping retardant over the fire.
No structures have been lost and the fire's cause is not yet known.

• email

[American Patriot]

As of last night, there were NINE fires, not five.

Black Forest is 100% contained this morning. By sometime tomorrow evening all evacuations will probably be lifted and the area will again be open for residents and general public.

[American Patriot]

Raging Colorado, Arizona wildfires prompt evacuations

Ed Andrieski / AP
A slurry bomber drops a stream of fire retardant on the Lime Gulch wildfire near Pine, Colo., on Thursday, June 20, 2013. Hot, windy conditions across Colorado left firefighters battling multiple wildfires, while residents in broad swaths of the state were warned about smoke in what has become the state's most damaging fire season in history.



By Keith Coffman, Reuters


DENVER — Several wildfires raged unchecked across drought-parched Colorado on Thursday, one threatening oil and gas wells close to the Utah border and another about 300 miles to the southeast chased a group of Boy Scouts from their camp near New Mexico.


A separate wind-whipped fire roaring through chaparral and pine forests in central Arizona forced the evacuation of about 460 homes near the town of Prescott, about 100 miles north of Phoenix.


Scorching temperatures, low humidity and gusting winds have much of Colorado under red-flag warnings for extreme fire danger, the National Weather Service said in a bulletin.


In northwestern Colorado near the Utah state line, an 850-acre, wind-driven wildfire prompted the evacuation of 40 oil and gas well sites on Wednesday in Rio Blanco County, according to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Firefighters were working on Thursday to prevent flames from moving into the complex.

"Hampering firefighting efforts is limited access, rugged terrain, thick smoke and high winds," the bureau said in a statement, noting that firefighters observed wind-blown embers igniting new spot fires up to a half mile away.


At the southern end of Colorado, a separate wind-driven blaze near the Spanish Peaks in Huerfano County grew to 1,000 acres after forcing about 200 scouts and staff members to flee their camp on Wednesday.


Ed Andrieski / AP


Andy Cassel, left, and Art Jensen talk about the Lime Gulch wildfire as they gather with neighbors to watch the fire near Pine, Colo., on Thursday, June 20, 2013.




Michael Stewart, executive director of the Santa Fe Council of the Boy Scouts of America, said scout leaders first noticed smoke over a ridgeline, then spotted flames moving toward their camp and notified authorities.


Everyone at the camp was safely evacuated with "whatever they had in their pockets," Stewart, who was at the camp, told Reuters on Thursday.


Authorities also issued evacuation and pre-evacuation notices for residents south and west of the fire for 30 miles to the New Mexico border.


In the foothills west of Denver, a smoldering lightning-sparked wildfire blew up to 500 acres, triggering the evacuation of some 100 residents, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said.


In southwestern Colorado, a smoke plume billowed 30,000 feet into the air from two fires burning in the Weminuche Wilderness Area, the Colorado Office of Emergency Management said in a statement.


In Magdalena, N.M., the town's well has run dry. Now they're rationing water bottles, and using porta-potties while trying to conserve as much as possible. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez reports.



One of the fires burned within a quarter-mile of some 40 buildings at the Wolf Creek ski resort. The two fires have consumed more than 12,700 acres and "flame lengths of over 100 feet high were observed," the statement said.


Meanwhile, firefighters battling the so-called Black Forest blaze near Colorado Springs, the most destructive on record in the state, neared full containment of the flames on Thursday. That fire, which authorities believe was human-caused, has charred some 21 square miles of wooded hillsides for more than a week, destroying 509 homes and killing two people.


In neighboring Arizona, Governor Jan Brewer signed a declaration of emergency in Yavapai County on Thursday freeing up $100,000 and authorizing the National Guard to help tackle the fire raging out of control near Prescott.


The Doce Fire that has charred some 7,500 acres, though no buildings have burned.


Additional reporting by Tim Gaynor in Phoenix; Editing by Steve Gorman and Stacey Joyce
Slideshow: Western wildfires

Dry conditions fuel blazes in the U.S.

[American Patriot]

Colorado wildfires burning at multiple sites, some at zero containment

Posted: 06/21/2013 12:01:00 AM MDT
Updated: 06/21/2013 05:37:08 AM MDT

By Ryan Parker
The Denver Post
A helicopter goes in to make a water drop as flames consume stands of trees on U.S. Forest Service land in the Lime Gulch fire near Conifer. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)





Wildfires continued to burn across Colorado on Thursday, some destroying structures while others took direct aim at tourism.


And the National Weather Service's forecast for the next seven days, with temperatures in the 90s, doesn't point to any quick relief.


The East Peak fire, originally dubbed the Scout Ranch fire, in southern Colorado has grown to 9,000 acres with zero percent containment, forcing mandatory evacuations for residents east of the town of La Veta all the way to Interstate 25, and south of Walsenburg to the Las Animas County line.


The fire has destroyed as many as 10 structures, including the Boy Scout ranch.


Also, 178 Boy Scouts who had been camping in the mountains of the Spanish Peaks were evacuated.


The fire, pushed by strong winds, is running to the east and southeast, fire officials said.


The West Fork fire has burned more than 18,000 acres in southwestern Colorado and forced the closure of U.S. 160 over Wolf Creek Pass.


Evacuations extended from the top of Wolf Creek Pass along U.S. 160 all the way to the South Fork city limits.


Other evacuations included the Lake Humphreys and 4UR Ranch areas on the north side of the Weminuche Wilderness, about 6 miles south of Wagon Wheel Gap and the Metroz Lake area.


Closer to Denver, the Lime Gulch fire in Jefferson County has burned 600 acres and forced the closure of Waterton Canyon on Thursday.


Commander Dan Dallas of Rocky Mountain Area Incident Management Team B said Thursday afternoon that 20 to 30 homes remain at risk of fire damage near South Foxton Road and Platte River Road, but structure-protection crews are nearby.


The fire, which officials believe was caused by lightning, forced 100 people south of Conifer to evacuate their homes Wednesday afternoon, and evacuations remain in effect. About 255 firefighters are battling the blaze, fire officials said.


"The word from the field is things are going well," Dallas said.


Other wildfires currently in Colorado include:


• The Wild Rose fire near Rangely in Rio Blanco County, which has burned 850 acres and is in the vicinity of numerous oil and gas facilities. That fire is zero percent contained.


• The Bull Gulch fire is burning north of U.S. 50 on Bureau of Land Management-maintained lands, approximately 1 mile east of Table Mountain, and about 9 miles northwest of the intersection of Road Gulch and Copper Gulch Road to the west of Cañon City. That fire has burned 150 acres and is 5 percent contained.


• The Black Forest fire burning near Colorado Springs was declared 100 percent contained Thursday. That fire destroyed at least 509 homes and killed two people. Authorities suspect it was human-caused.


Ryan Parker: 303-954-2409, rparker@denverpost.com or twitter.com/ryanparkerdp
Staff writer Adrian Garcia contributed to this report.



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[MinutemanCO]

Terror behind cataclysmic Colorado flames?
'Striking rise in Western U.S. wildfires may be caused by elements other than nature'

An expert on Islamic terrorism believes the wildfire that ravaged the outskirts of Colorado Springs, killing two people and destroying more than 500 homes, should be examined by terror investigators.

That’s because of the history of threats from al-Qaida and others to burn America’s forests.

officials heading into the weekend have not stated what they believe caused the fire.
Authorities in El Paso County said they are focusing on a very tiny spot in their hunt for the reason the flames erupted in the mature stand of Ponderosa pines. The fire moved quickly out of control and incinerated homes and people alike with temperatures up to 2,500 degrees.

“One thing that my investigators have given me the authority to state is that they have all but ruled out natural causes as the cause of this fire,” said Sheriff Terry Maketa. “I can’t really go any further on that, but I can say we are pretty confident it was not, for instance, a lightning strike.”

The causes for most forest fires are limited to electrical problems, campfires or grills that get out of control, accidents such as a car fire and sparks from chain saws or other back-country tools.
Those causes, to an expert investigator, are readily identifiable.

But authorities said they were focusing on a 28-foot square patch where they believe the fire started, examining some portions with a magnifying glass.

“Bill Scott, who’s a senior fellow at ACD, warned about such a scenario last July, speaking at the ACD-EWI Economic Threats briefing on Capital Hill,” Ehrenfeld wrote. “An expert on aerial firefighting, he presented a sobering analysis of the devastating (2012) Waldo Canyon Fire [in Colorado], pointing out that the striking rise [in] Western U.S. wildfires may be caused by elements other than nature.

“He noted that in spring 2012, al-Qaida’s English-language online magazine, Inspire, published an article called ‘It Is of Your Freedom to Ignite a Firebomb,’ which featured instructions on how to build an incendiary bomb to light forests on fire.”

She explained that Russia’s security chief, Aleksandr Bortnikov, also has warned, “Al-Qaida was complicit in recent forest fires in Europe” as part of terrorism’s “strategy of a thousand cuts.”
“Since then, more fatwas advocating that ‘fire is a cheap, easy and effective tool for economic warfare’ have been issued,” Ehrenfeld wrote. “They’ve included detailed instructions for constructing remote-controlled ‘ember bombs, and how to set fires without leaving a trace.’”
Israel’s forests also have been targeted, she noted.

“While many of the fires that have scorched millions of acres and destroyed thousands of homes in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and other states have been identified as arson, none has been publicly attributed to criminal or terrorist groups, despite the presence of Mexican gangs and [a] large number of other illegals in our Western states,” she said.

Mother Jones reported Don Smurthwaite, a Bureau of Land Management spokesman, “downplayed” Ehrenfeld’s ideas, “but he didn’t dismiss the notion outright.”

“We don’t have any hard evidence that any wildfires in the U.S. were started by terrorists in recent years,” he told the publication. “But is it a possibility? Certainly.”

He noted the last confirmed weaponized wildfires were in World War II, when the Japanese sent incendiary balloons across the Pacific.

However, the Christian Broadcasting Network reported al-Qaida was advising would-be terrorists how best to burn America.

The terror group’s magazine included pictures, diagrams and explanations on how to start fires to obtain the most damage.

CBN analyst Erick Stakelbeck said the extreme detail provides reason for concern. The information, he said, is “all designed to cause the maximum amount of carnage and death.”

CBN noted that in the U.S., more houses are built in the countryside than in the cities and cited a Montana fire chief who said the prospect of a wildfire terrorist attack was not farfetched.

WND also reported websites run by jihadis made claims of arson in a number of California wildfires.

WND reported in 2004 that an Arabic-language jihadi website also posted a message purporting to be “al-Qaida’s plan of economic attack” on the U.S. that including proposals to turn the nation’s forests into raging infernos.

The National Terror Alert Response Center report said: “We are NOT implying that the California fires are an act of terrorism; however, the threat of pyro-terrorist attacks pose a significant risk to the U.S. and the fires in California and Greece earlier this year should be a wake-up call.”

Even in 2003, an FBI memo warned that national forests in the West could be the next target for terror by Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network.

The memo, obtained by the Arizona Republic, warned law enforcement that a senior al-Qaida detainee told interrogators he planned to spark multiple, catastrophic wildfires simultaneously in Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming to strike a blow to the U.S. economy.

WND also reported documents recovered from a remote area along the Pakistan border revealed that bin Laden wanted al-Qaida to launch a “global fireball” by lighting forest fires in Europe, the United States, Australia and South America.

The documents, uncovered during an operation led by the British intelligence service MI6, were described by experts in that agency as “the most worrying [plot] that the world is facing.”

[American Patriot]

Wildfires Ravage Colorado, Causing Vacationers to Flee

By JACK HEALY

Published: June 23, 2013

DENVER — Fast-growing wildfires fueled by thousands of dead and drought-stricken evergreen trees tore through the mountains of southern Colorado on Sunday, forcing vacationers to flee their cabins and campgrounds under a sky choked with pillars of gray and white smoke.



Multimedia

Map




“It flared up and just moved like lightning,” said Paul Mangan, an owner of the Silver Fork Restaurant in the town of South Fork. The town’s population of 600 swells each summer with vacationers who come in minivans and recreational vehicles to fish, bike, hike and roam. By Sunday afternoon, many of those mountainsides and scenic vistas had gone up in flames. The blaze had exploded in size to 70,000 acres by Sunday afternoon.


It was the largest of several wildfires burning during the weekend in Colorado, and came about two weeks after a fire in the forested suburbs near Colorado Springs destroyed more than 500 homes and left two people dead. The blaze in southern Colorado, though far larger, was not nearly as destructive. Although the flames forced the evacuations of at least 1,000 people as they burned through stands of brittle, beetle-killed spruce trees, no homes or other buildings had been reported destroyed.


On Sunday, more than 500 firefighters were working to keep the blaze from spreading toward the Wolf Creek Ski Area and nearby towns in the mountains.


Fire crews had been able to beat the flames away from South Fork earlier in the weekend, but the lightning-sparked fire was still burning out of control. There was little rain in the forecast, and fire crews said winds with gusts up to 50 miles per hour were helping to fan the flames.


On some mountainsides, 80 to 90 percent of the trees had been killed by spruce beetles or were dried out from drought, making them as vulnerable as matchsticks to approaching flames.


“You’re seeing some very extreme fire behavior,” said Anne Jeffery, a spokeswoman for the fire command team. The blaze, called the West Fork Fire Complex, consists of three wildfires that officials are trying to attack in a coordinated fashion.


At 11:30 a.m., as he was preparing to open the restaurant to serve lunch to firefighters and anyone else left in town, Mr. Mangan said he watched a huge new plume of smoke rise. He had not yet been ordered to leave, but said he was prepared to go. “Our trailers are all loaded up,” he said. “We’ll just shut this place down and take off in 10 minutes. I don’t want to get in the way.”

[American Patriot]

3 towns at risk from Colorado wildfires; 100-foot wall of flame reported

In South Fork, Colo., a surging Colorado fire has forced hundreds to evacuate, one of several recent blazes that made for an especially destructive fire season in the state. Now federal cuts may diminish fire prevention funding even further across the nation, forcing some communities to take matters into their own hands. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez reports.



By Keith Coffman, Reuters


DENVER - Three wildfires sparked by lightning were raging out of control in rugged Colorado mountain terrain, prompting the evacuation of two towns and menacing a third on Friday.


The West Fork Fire Complex - consisting of two separate fires in Rio Grande County in southern Colorado - forced 600 residents of South Fork to flee as high winds helped the blazes grow from 12,000 acres to 30,000 acres overnight.


"The fire behavior we saw yesterday was so extreme, it was ... unprecedented," said Eric Norton, a fire behavior analyst with the National Incident Management Organization.
A smoke plume from the blazes billowed 30,000 feet into the air, and firefighters reported 100-foot flames.

A string of fires have claimed at least two lives, charred hundreds of square miles and torched hundreds of homes across the western United States and in Alaska, which is baking in a heat wave.


The blazes, coming just as firefighters near Colorado Springs have contained the state's most destructive wildfire on record, underscore concerns that prolonged drought conditions in the West could intensify this year's fire season.


Much of Colorado is on high fire alert for the next several days due to heat, low humidity and strong winds, the National Weather Service said.


Fire spokeswoman Betsy Coffee said firefighters were deployed around South Fork to prevent flames from entering the community. Aerial crews were attacking the blazes with fire retardant and water drops.


Farther east in Huerfano County, a wind-driven blaze forced the evacuation of about 800 residents of the town of La Veta. The fire was bearing down on Walsenburg, a community of 3,000.


Another Huerfano County fire that forced about 200 people to flee a Boy Scout camp this week has grown to 9,100 acres and destroyed nine structures and four outbuildings, fire officials said.


In Arizona, officials said more than 600 firefighters continued to make progress against a blaze that forced the evacuation of 465 homes near the city of Prescott, about 100 miles north of Phoenix. No structures have been lost.


The Arizona fire, which is 10 percent contained, has claimed 6,732 acres of bone-dry chaparral and pine forests since it broke out on Tuesday.

[American Patriot]

As of this morning.....


Somewhere near 70000 acres are burning south of me. This is the BIGGEST fire in Colorado history if I'm not mistaken. South Fork has been "saved" so far, but other towns are threatened near by and a few thousand have evacuated. South Fork is still empty.

South Fork Fire Burns 70,000 Acres, Town Braces For Long Evacuation



Colorado’s South Fork fire has burned more than 70,000 acres as nearby town brace for a long evacuation. So far, the weather has kept fire crews from making progress in controlling the blaze.




The fire raged near a popular summer retreat, helped along by winds and dead trees in an area already facing a drought. The fire grew overnight to 108 square miles on Sunday. It was just 50 square miles on Friday night.


No structures were lost in the fire and no injuries have been reported so far. However, officials don’t think they will be able to establish containment lines until there is a break in the weather. Still, they remain confident that they will be able to protect the town.


Firefighters continued on Sunday to focus on protecting South Fork, the Wolf Creek ski area, and homes along Colorado’s Highway 149. The fire has been fueled by beetle-infested trees and is the worst ever known to hit the Rio Grande National Forest.
While firefighters battle to control the blaze, officials have said that they expect the blaze to burn all summer in more forested, non-residential areas. Full extinguishment of the fire will likely take months.


The blaze was started by lightning on June 5, but more than 1,500 people have been evacuated as it spread dangerously close to South Fork. Mike Duffy, who owns the South Fork Lodge, stated of the evacuation, “They just said they had no idea how long it would be before we could be back in South Fork.”


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Live update on the West Fork Fire

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Raw Video: USFS 9 am update on West Fork Complex Fire

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Fire near Walsenburg grows to 9,000 acres

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Black Forest homeowner lost everything but photo album

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Doce Fire Press Release 6/18/2013








Duffy and his wife, Mary, gathered their personal possessions and fled the fast-moving wildfire. Officials initially worried the blaqze would overtake the popular tourist town. Thankfully that has not happened. While it is within three miles of South Fork, the fire has not yet threatened the town.


But a long-term evacuation could still impact the town, which depends on tourism to survive. Summer visitors usually include retirees from Texas and Oklahoma seeking cooler weather in the mountains.


While the South Fork fire remains uncontained, a wildfire 30 miles southwest of Denver was expected to come under full containment by Sunday evening.