Smoke
It is quite smoky today in Four Mile!

Though the Hayman fire is 90% contained, it is still burning slowly along the western edge in the Lost Creek Wilderness.

There are five fires burning in Colorado northwest of us:

• Hayman (NW of Lake George)
  
• Coal Seam (near Glenwood Springs)
  
• Spring Creek (near Silt)
  
• Pinyon Ridge (near Meeker)
  
• Bear (near Dinosaur Nat'l Mon)
  

and there are four fires burning to the southwest:

• Million (near South Fork)
  
• Missionary Ridge & Valley (near Durango)
  
• West Beaver (S. of Norwood, CO, in the Uncompahgre Forest)
  
• Rodeo-Chediski (near Show Low, AZ)
  

so I guess I'm not too surprised that it is smokey!!!

In addition there were three new fires reported in Colorado on Saturday:

• Fountain Gulch - 1 mile NE of Idaho Springs, ~60 acres
  
• Fish Creek - wilderness area in Larimer County, 25 acres
  
• Soap Creek - west of Gunnison, northwest of Blue Mesa, 25-30 acres
  

Hopefully these new ones will be controlled shortly.

The only fire near Four Mile is Hayman. The active area is in the Lost Creek Wilderness, so Hayman is not threatening homes any longer.

Four Mile Woman's Death May Be Related to Hayman Fire Smoke

Ground Crews Pulling Back from Westcreek
Mountain Communities Fire is pulling out of Westcreek and moving south to Manitou Lake due to the progress of the fire.

Air drops continuing.

Hayman Fire - Air Tankers Standing By
Four air tankers and a lead plane (used to guide the tankers in over a fire) have been committed to the Hayman Fire. They are standing by in Durango and Pueblo. Additional tankers and helicopters from Jeffco or Ft. Collins may also be committed, but I haven't picked that up yet on the scanner frequencies I monitor.

Closed!
The Pike National Forest and all BLM lands in Teller, Park, Jefferson, Douglas and El Paso counties are CLOSED to all uses and accesses starting Monday, 10 June 2002!! This is being done to protect lands and residents from the extreme fire danger in these areas.

This country is tinder dry, folks! Please, please please be careful as you drive through on the roads that are open.

More info at my Hayman Fire page

The folks at the Forest Service have a new map, accurate as of 9pm last night.

Pictures
Rick Grenfell was kind enough to share his pictures from the Four Mile Area (approx. 10 miles SE of the fire). These pictures were taken around noon today.
http://home.att.net/~liverman/4mile/hayman_pix.htm

Westcreek Evacuation
The sheriff's office just announced the evacuation of Westcreek and everything south to the Painted Rocks Road (CR 78) and US Hwy 67. Evacuees are being told to head south - to Woodland Park High School on Rampart Range Road.
Other evacuations:

• The Malta/Waterton Powerline was shut down last night at midnight. The Divide powerline will shut down soon.
  
• All points west of Highway 67 to the Jefferson and Douglas County line.
  
• In addition, Highway 67 is closed from West Creek to Sugar Creek and from Trumbull to Sugar Creek and east to the Rampart Range Road, including the Rampart Range Road.
  
• Molly Gulch Campground
  
• Goose Creek Campground
  
• Flying G Girl Scout Ranch
  
• Lost Valley Ranch
  
• Lutheran Valley
  
• Wild Horn
  
• PCR 77, mile marker 35-39
  
• Forest Service Road 211, PCR 77 to Cheesman
  
• Y Camp Road
  
• South Platte River, from the Douglas County side is closed to recreation of any sort.
  
• Evacuations are in effect for all private land and recreation areas between Matukat Road and Cedar Mountain Road up to Highway 67.
  
• Wigwam
  
• Deckers
  
• Trumbull
  

Shelters are open at:

• Woodland Park High School, Woodland Park (for Park & Teller County residents)
  
• Lake George Elementary, (for Park County residents)
  
• Elk Creek High School (for Jefferson Co residents)
  
• Sedalia Middle School, Sedalia (for Douglas County residents)
  

Hayman Fire Update

Fire has grown to 19,000+ acres. Growing at 500 ac per hour. Moving to the northeast generally along the Platte River from Lake George towards Deckers. This fire is not under control.

Latest update from the forest service is chilling. Evacuations are underway or will be underway shortly for Deckers, Trumbull, Wigwam, and all points west of Highway 67 to the Jefferson and Douglas County line. Hwy 67 is closed between Painted Rocks campground on the south and West Creek on the north. Interests between Hwy 67 and Rampart Range Road are being alerted.

This is a very fast moving fire.

Hayman Fire

The Hayman Fire started six miles NW of Lake George, CO, near the Round Mountain campground at about 5pm on Saturday, 8 June 2002. Purported cause is a campfire. As of this morning it is over 400 ac and moving to the northeast, generally along the Platte River valley towards Cheesman Resevoir. Twenty residences, twenty outbuildings and four commercial structures destroyed so far. Authorities are evacuating homes and campers in the path of the fire in Park, Jefferson, and Douglas Counties.


Good info can be obtained from the Nat'l. Forest Service dispatch center in Pueblo, CO: http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/psicc/fire/hayman/


I've also started a page at http://home.att.net/~liverman/4mile/hayman_fire_news.htm that I will be adding to as I get more info.

Election Day

Nothing too important in our part of the county:

• Re-1 Board members
  
• De-Brucing the library district
  
• Increased taxesto pay for books 'n' buses for RE-1

The state wants to take $50M from the excess taxes that were collected and fund the design of a rail system from Denver to Vail.

We'll see what the vote count tells us...

Fall in Four Mile

The leaves are changing. This is really the last good weekend for aspen viewing. We had a cold front through here yesterday and a lot of leaves are on the ground this morning.

Nights are cooler. Almost ready to fire up the stove. It won't be long.

However...the days are still warm! yeah! I love it! Sunny with temps in the 70's and even knockin' on the 80's!

We did have our first real snow a couple of weeks ago, so we've gotten that out of the way - about three good inches here at the Diamond J.

A lot of flags on display around the area as folks show their support for our country in the wake of the horrific events on 11 September.

Happy Birthday USA
Well, it's the middle of the summer. The weather in Four Mile is great.

Fourth of July celebrations all over Teller County went off without incident this year and it seems that a great time was had by all. I enjoyed the fireworks in Cripple Creek on the fourth and the Symphony Above the Clouds symphony performance and fireworks in Woodland Park on the fifth.

The people in Cripple Creek outdid themselves with the fireworks this year. Seems like every year they have been getting a little better each year.

As usual, the Symphony Above the Clouds event in Woodland Park was great - the football field was packed with people from all over the county (and some from down in the flatlands). The symphony did a great job (love the howitzer section from Ft. Carson and their excellent solo during the 1812 Overture). The theme of the concert this year was a trbute to the 60th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor so they played a selection of big band numbers that were popular at the time. I liked the music, but longed for more traditional patriotic stuff. The orchestra did play America the Beautiful. I think it is simply the most moving experience in the world to listen to that piece of music played live, outdoors, with a view of Pikes Peak behind the orchestra!! Unfortunately, the fireworks display was not very good, IMHO. The folks from Cripple Creek did a much better job...and the fireworks display in Woodland park last year was better. Hope they fix it up for next year!

So Enough With These Crooks Already!
Popular opion in the neighborhood is split between whether the remaining two Texas Seven have departed the area or are lurking around somewhere. So off to work I go only to discover that the authorities have found the van these two were driving almost next door to my office building. I am about to get paranoid...

There's Gotta Be Happier News...
I noticed that the last two posts are about murderers and escaped convicts...not very pleasant stuff.

On a lighter and more interesting note, the skies have been clear out here in God's country and we've been enjoying Jupiter, Saturn and Venus in the night sky. Block and Byrd at Earth and Sky have a cool website and NPR radio broadcast that help me figure out what's good to see on the cellestial TV each night.

Five-Sevenths of the Texas Seven Accounted For
Woodland Park is not in Four Mile, but it is the nearest town with a Safeway and a movie theater, so stuff like this keeps us glued to our TV's. We're still keeping to doors locked because of the other two that are wandering around someplace...kinda spooky. CNN has pretty good coverage and that's what I'm watching.

No apparant connection with the murders over in Bear Trap.

Violence in Four Mile
I'm sure that many of you have been seeing press reports about the "Guffey Homicides". The Denver Post (http://www.denverpost.com/news/news0106a.htm), Denver Rocky Mountain News (http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/0107guff3.shtml) and Colorado Springs Gazette (http://www.gazette.com/daily/top1a.html and http://www.gazette.com/daily/top1b.html) have up-to-date information if you want to follow along. Those URLs are probably temporary, so if they don't work when you try them, go to the paper's main website and search on "guffey".

Interesting, but the Dutcher murders did not even take place in Guffey...guess it's the closest town. But if the the newsies use it, that keeps the name "Four Mile" out of news...just the way we like it. The Dutcher's lived in Bear Trap, which is in the middle of our Four Mile Community. They are our neighbors and friends and we are saddened by their passing. Tony, their grandson, lived in Colorado Springs, but visited his grandparents often (as did I when I was a lad)...he, too, will be missed.

We know that the one incident (Mandell-Wainer) that did occur in Guffey is a separate incident from the Dutcher murders (Carl, Joanna and Tony). The authorities have not published any motive, method, reason or suspect for the Dutcher murders, so Four Mile residents remain uneasy...keeping their doors locked and their protective devices ready.

Christmas & New Years
The holiday season was was fairly peaceful here in Four Mile. The weather was unseasonably warm and dry. The good news is that we were all able to see the AdAmAn Club fireworks at the top of Pikes Peak at midnight on New Years Eve! Great show this year! Thanks guys!

The new millenium is finally here!

Snow!
Well, it snowed again on Saturday night (12/9) - had to sweep about 6-8" of the stuff off the porch. My mail is getting innundated with snowfall alert messages from the ski resorts, so that's good news for thos who like to play in the white stuff.

Evergreen Station is Open
Evergreen Station is open again. The new owners have changed the inside quite a bit. Stop on by and say hello!

Millenium Holiday Tree
Colorado was chosen to supply the Christmas Tree for the national capitol this year. The tree was harvested from the Pike National Forest just a few miles north of Woodland Park. More about the project: Colorado's Millennium Holiday Tree

I have mixed emotions about harvesting live trees for Christmas trees. This one was blessed by Ute elders to ask permission of the tree pror to its being harvested.

Certainly lots of people have gotten involved. Lots of individuals and companies have helped out with the cutting and transportation. School kids have made ornaments. The tree will make lots of stops across the country as it heads to Washington, DC. So a pretty good sized community is growing up around this project - that's good.

There are also souveniers that you can buy. If you buy 'em from the Teller County Extension Office, the Teller County 4H program (that's local kids, folks!) get a share of the proceeds. Check it out: Millennium Tree Products from Teller County 4H