As you might have heard, the wild-fire situation here in the west is pretty bad. We currently have a huge fire going on in northern Colorado which started just about 10 mi from my QTH. So far (day 10) it has consumed an area of more than 58000 acres (~230 square km), destroyed >180 homes and displaced hundreds of people. There is no end in sight and several SOTA peaks are within the burning area or very close by and therefore not accessible due to road closures and smoke. In case you are planning a SOTA activation in N-Colorado, make sure to check the Incident Information System for the latest closures, evacuations and maps. I would suggest to stay away from all summits north-west of Ft. Collins, making US34 (Thompson Canyon) the last easy access into the Rockies.

I created a map with the latest published data of the fire including the impacted SOTA peaks.

Keep in mind that we had another fire just three weeks ago (the Hewlett Fire) which burned large areas just north of CO14. Several SOTA peaks are within this (still burning) area, making access to WØC/FR-Ø95 (Greyrock Mtn), WØC/FR-Ø94 (North Greyrock) and WØC/FR-209 (7501) impossible.

 

Bottom line, plan your activation around here very carefully.

73, Matt/KØMOS

Update (June 22, 2012):
Just a quick update on the fire in N-Colorado. It now spread to over 68’000 acres (>275 square kilometers), and more SOTA peaks are withing the burn area. Lost structures are now >190 and unfortunately one fatality.

As far as I can tell from the published maps, the following additional SOTA peaks are now consumed by the fire as well.

• WØC/FR-Ø97 (Sheep Mtn)
• WØC/FR-Ø88 (Mt. McConnel)
• WØC/FR-Ø46 (West White Pine Mtn) and
• WØC/FR-146 (East White Pine Mtn.

Kriss/KA1GJU sent me the following pictures of the fire, taken last week from ~36000 ft. Click on the picture to enlarge.

 

Stay safe…
Matt/KØMOS

Update (June 27th, 2012):
Larimer County & High Park Incident Command has taken away public access on the NIFC ftp server! I am no longer able to generate GE (Google Earth) maps with the SOTA summits overlays.  More SOTA peaks are withing the burn area (WØC/FR-7980) for sure, maybe more).  The fire situation is VERY bad and several large and destructive fires are impacting the Frontrange. Here a list with the largest ones.

• Highpark fire near Fort Collins (87’284 acres), 257 homes lost so far, hundreds of evacuations. More info: http://co.dtswildfire.com/home/
• Flagstaff fire near Boulder (230 acres).
  More info: http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_20946242/flagstaff-fire-blaze-now-at-230-acres-but
• Waldo Canyon wildfire near Colorado Springs (6200 acres) threatening thousands of homes, 32’000 evacuations so far (Incl. parts of Air Force Academy), structures are lost
  More info: http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_20949291/colorado-wildfire-waldo-canyon-fire-doubles-size
• Woodland Heights Fire in Estes Park (29 acres), 23 homes lost, looks like it’s under control now
  More info: http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20120626/NEWS01/120627001/Crews-call-Estes-fire-worstthey-veseen?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

My point? If you are planning to travel to the Colorado Mountains in the next few days/weeks you have a good chance to be impacted by one of the fires. E.g. I25 was closed briefly yesterday, one of the main entrances to RMNP was closed due to the Woodland fire, CO14, CO74e are closed  etc. etc. Plan ahead and be flexible. The high temperatures and high winds will stay with us for the next few days – ergo it will most likely become worse.

Matt/KØMOS

 

 

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!! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and bold mountaineers... there are no old-bold mountaineers. Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required - enjoy!