Springer Fire Cause - Humans

The latest post on the Springer Fire InciWeb confirms that the fire was caused by humans, not natural causes (e.g., lightening):

"The fire has been determined to be human caused and may be related to recreational shooting. US Forest Service, Park County Sheriff, FBI and ATF are working collaboratively to investigate the cause of the fire. A special tip line has been set up for any information relating to the investigation at 719-836-4117" 

"related to recreational shooting"...what the heck?

I've been a recreational shooter for years and served as a 4H Shooting Sports leader (with proper training and certification). Recreational shooting is shooting at proper targets with a proper backstop using proper safety equipment and following proper safety practices. Everybody has fun and everybody (including the plants and beasties of the forest) stay safe.

Shooting that causes explosions and fires is something else:

• a darker purpose such as testing the destructive capability or killing power of a weapon
• arson
• the result of deficient thinking ("Gee, I didn't think that would happen!")

We do not require people to have a driver's license to purchase a car, but we do require that they have one to drive and we do require they carry liability insurance to compensate others if the driver's actions cause another person harm. We do not require people have training (as evidenced, for example, by a test and a license) to purchase firearms or use firearms, in deference to the sacred Second Amendment. We do not require they carry liability insurance in the event a person's use of a firearm causes another person harm. I find this a little odd as it appears to me that different standards are being applied to a person's use of a potentially harmful device in society.

Springer Fire Danger to Four Mile & Teller County Reduced

Yesterday, the Teller County Sheriff's Office announced that due to the great work by fire crews at keeping the Springer Fire north of the Platte River, they were closing their Incident Command Center. This means they will no longer have officers and other emergency personnel stationed at an Incident Command Center in Divide, but will continue with their normal duties. This means the TCSO believes that the possibility of evacuating Teller County residents from their homes is not as high as it had been.

Of course, the TCSO and others are still available, they will still closely monitor the fire behavior and progress and will provide assistance to the people and animals who have evacuated from homes in Park and Teller Counties.

The smoke plume was barely visible from Four Mile yesterday, so my observations support what the officials are saying - the men and women out there on the ground and in the air had two very good days. Hats off and thank you very much!

Today brings cooler temperatures to Park and Teller Counties and the Four Mile community that sits at the border. However, that cold front is also bringing some increased wind. Temperatures are due to rise by Thursday or Friday to the extremes we saw last weekend. The weather forecasters believe there is some chance of precipitation next week.

So it looks like the gun is de-cocked, but it's still loaded. We'll keep a very watchful eye to the west until we get some good rains to really put this thing out.

The latest info:

• InciWeb - USFS Incident Information System - very useful "home" page for info, including links to other official web sites
• Maps
• Teller County Sheriff's Office
• Lake George Remote Automated Weather Station (RAWS) - temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction and much more from a station at the USFS Work Center in Lake George, CO, located less than five miles from the fire. This data is collected by many agencies and published on several website:
• RAWS Climate Archive (includes most recent hourly data)
• ROMAN
• Weather Near Fires - Springer Fire - this is a compendium of weather data from multiple automated weather stations in the "vicinity" of the Springer Fire. The distance and direction of the weather station from the Springer Fire is given in the "Dist/Dir" column
• University of Utah MesoWest (offline on 6/20/12 for system maintenance)

Aspen Village Fire Contained

This one is being fought by crews from several Teller County volunteer fire departments and some USFS crews borrowed from the Springer Fire. Its 2-3 acres in size and is on both private and National Forest. The fire is reported as contained. Initially two SEAT (Single Engine Air Tanker) planes were dispatched, but were cancelled after the first ground units arrived and determined that ground crews could handle the situation.

There are no evacuations ordered. The Aspen Village subdivision off Teller CR 51 north of Divide, CO, is the only residential area impacted.

This was a very fast, tightly coordinated response by all the Teller County volunteer fire departments and federal and state forest fire crews. No egos, just a no nonsense, "get it done" attitude on the part of everyone.

New Fire in Teller County - Aspen Village Drive, Divide, CO

As I am writing this, Teller County Fire Departments are responding as the Teller County Wildland Fire Task Force to the vicinty of Aspen Village Drive north of Divide, CO (15 mi east of the Springer fire in Teller County). The initial responders are reporting a large column of dense smoke.
USFS crews from the Springer Fire are also responding.

This is a residential area and there are three structures that are threatened.

Springer Fire Update - 970 acres, No Containment

The size of the Springer Fire was revised a few hours ago after an aerial GPS survey was completed this morning.

Size is now 970 acres. Last night, based on preliminary ground surveys, they had it pegged at between 400-500 acres. I don't know if the fire really grew or if this is the result of better measurements. Probably some of each.

As of the 4:00pm USFS briefing, there is no containment.

A couple of hours ago, the spotter plane providing control services for the air attack above the Springer Fire, detected a new fire, about 5 miles away from the Springer Fire. It is located just east of the Eleven Mile Reservoir Dam. Of course, both helitack and ground crews were immediately dispatched to deal with this one. Only a tenth of an acre in size, the crews made short work of this one.

What it looks like from the Four Mile area in western Teller County

The plume today was not as dense as yesterday, but seen from the road in front of our ranch, this looks ominous:

Teller CR 1 between MM 9 and MM 10 looking northwest

So my spotters and I climbed the hill behind the house:

And we saw:

The fire is about 10 miles from this vantage point.

Springer Fire Update - 18 June 2012

The wind is out of the southwest this morning, so the Four Mile area is not in the direct path this morning.

Teller County has a new advisory out:

• Standby evacuations still in effect for
• Sanborn Ranch
• Wilson Lakes Estates
• Forest Glenn Sports Association
• Blue Mountain Estates.
• Prepare for Possible Pre-Evacuation Notice:
• West Florissant Heights
• Indian Creek
• Valley High Subdivisions
• areas west of Wildhorn Rd and CR 31
• Primary evacuation shelter is Summit Elementary in Divide, CO
• Secondary evacuation shelter is at the Woodland Park High School, Woodland Park, CO

Springer Fire Threatens Four Mile

Oh no, not again...

It has been over ten years since the Hayman Fire and in that time we have not had a fire that seriously threatened the Four Mile community.

Until yesterday.

Springer Fire details

Yesterday the Springer Fire erupted in the area east of Eleven Mile Reservoir. The exact location is 38.945 latitude, -105.436 longitude. The fire grew yesterday to 450 acres and the south/east edge is at the South Platte River. The fire crossed the river yesterday, but was beaten back. The FS is reporting zero containment. The official USFS incident status page is here.

I was enroute to Denver yesterday to get to the Greek Festival and could see the growing smoke from Colorado Springs, Monument and Castle Rock! Based on the info sent to me by Teller County on my cell phone via Nixle, I turned around at Castle Rock (darn! No baklava!!) and headed home.

This is what the fire looked like yesterday:

Spinger Fire seen from US 24 between Divide & Florissant, CO, 4:54pm, 6/17/2012

Springer Fire seen from Florissant, Colorado, "city limits". 4:58pm, 6/17/2012

Springer Fire from Lake George, CO. Post office parking lot. 5:10pm, 6/17/2012

Springer Fire from Teller/Park county line on US Hwy 24. 5:16pm, 6/17/2012

When the fire crossed the Platte River yesterday, that triggered the evacuations of several subdivisions and homes in the area of Wilson Lakes Estates, Forest Glenn Sports Association, and Blue Mountain Estates. The Sanborn Ranch residents and camp guests evacuated voluntarily.

As the fires south of the Platte were quickly extinguished, Teller County changed the orders to "Standby" for those areas and allowed residents to return to their homes.

Evacuation Shelter for people: Woodland Park High School, Woodland Park, CO

Evacuation Shelter for animals: Teller County Fairgrounds, Cripple Creek, CO

(see the map at the bottom of this page)