Gunnison Wildfire

 

We've been experiencing a hopefully once in a lifetime event in our area. A lightening induced wildfire started 4 miles away from our house on July 26. There hadn't been a substantial wildfire in the Gunnison area since the late 1880's. We've had company too during all this commotion. Tiffany, Chris, and the girls, and my sister Anne all got to see the fire crews in action.

The fire went from 20 acres to the current 1,871 in a short amount of days. The immediate area was evacuated but we at Star Mt. were lucky and our community spared. The command for the fire went from local to federal and over 500 firefighters were shipped into the area.

A fire camp was set up just outside our community property line. An organized military-like operation. Impressive.

What an education I've had: containment does not mean the percentage of fire out, it means the percentage of the perimeter that is controlled. We are currently at 55%

Another revelation: the goal is not to put the fire out, it is to control the direction, and slowly move it away from any structures. The fire is in mostly National Forest area, with steep inaccessible terrain and a massive amount of dead downed and standing trees. The intent is to move the fire direction back deep into the National Forest where there are no structures and monitor as it burns itself out. That will take weeks we've been told.

Another revelation: Fires are good for a forest. The fire brings renewal with regenerative growth in plants and trees. There's a lot of burned area behind the lingering smoke in this photo. Hopefully we will see this regrowth in action next year.

Star Mt. back gate entrance

Heroic fire crews in every direction from five different states the last two weeks.  Star Mt. has a perfect overlook of the whole fire area so we've had daily visits from many as they assess. Hazy smoky air comes and goes and we'll just have to remain patient. We are grateful to the fire crews for all their hard work. Happily no structures have been damaged except an uninhabited cabin.