Saturday, December 1, 2012

Fern Lake Wildfire Causing Evacuations in Estes Park

The kits allowed me to sleep in this morning; I was awakened by the ravens, instead. The children and I had a huge love-fest yesterday afternoon and evening. We had light winds here in Boulder yesterday, but the winds really picked up in the Rocky Mountain National Park during the night hours. The Fern Lake wildfire is spreading like mad - 500 homes have been evacuated on the south-western outskirts of Estes Park due to the fire already this morning. More than 300 people are at the Estes park High School, and the fair grounds area is open for livestock that need to be evacuated. One structure has been "affected" by the fire, but there are no details. Winds are blowing in the 30 mph area, and are expected to gust into the 40s and 50s during the day. This area is extremely steep and the officials are hoping to be able to get slurry and water tankers up for drops; however, the winds may preclude this, as they just said winds might gust into the 60s and 70s. Not good for the wildlife; not good for people with breathing problems. I'll keep up-dating...
The Fern Lake Wildfire in RMNP as seen from Estes Park at 6 a.m. today.

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