MORE Fires??

I'm sitting here waiting for dinner to finish cooking and looking out both front and back windows at the vast contrast. Out the back I can see the clouds building as the front is inching this way. Out the front I can barely see the outline of the Wet Mountains as they're shrouded in that eery orange hue.

Saturday there was another 9000 acre fire East of Colorado Springs. I happened to hear about it on the radio while driving out to play with my beloved ponies. Me being me, I had to look around to see if I could find the smoke plume....silly since the area was probably 60-70 miles away. Wouldn't you know it? I actually COULD see the plume! I pointed it out when I got to the barn. I wasn't the only one amazed. Aren't we sad? I do hate to report that a few homes did burn in that fire, but am happy to say no lives were lost.

Today I was, once again, driving to the barn (this time only to dig up the wild strawberries so I can transplant them to my big flower bed), heading West on Highway 50. What do I see in front of me? A huge smoke plume coming from the mountains. Oh, great. Nothing mentioned even on the radio station out of Canon City. Hmm..well, too big and WAY too windy to be a prescribed burn.

I did finally hear something while on the way home, but still not a whole lot. What surprised me is that this has to be a fairly large fire because the location is quite a distance away. I don't know numbers, but looking on the map it's at least 50 miles. That smoke plume was bigger than the one Fort Carson displayed! The good thing is it's a remote area in the mountains. The bad news is it's a remote area in the mountains, prime with fuel, being pushed by sustained winds of close to 50mph (gusts over 70). The good news is the front coming through will drop the temps drastically and may even provide snow.

So, the sunset will be very pretty tonight, but firefighters will be having another long one......