Plains Fires Spead to Colorado and Arkansas!

[coldfront]

Plains Fires Spread to Colorado and Arkansas

AGUILAR, Colo. - The wildfire danger that has been menacing the parched southern plains spread to Arkansas and Colorado on Sunday, where wind-whipped blazes destroyed at least nine homes and forced hundreds of people to evacuate, authorities said.

Fires in southern Colorado destroyed five homes, burned at least 6,000 acres and forced several residents to evacuate homes in Huerfano and Las Animas counties, not far from the New Mexico line.

In Arkansas, a 3,000-acre wildfire destroyed four homes Sunday east of Hamburg and chased nearby residents from their houses. Four volunteer fire departments were battling the blaze, and Deputy State Forester Larry Nance said it likely would be Monday before they could gain control.

"The high temperatures, high winds and low humidities, that's the three big things that brought it more critical for all of Arkansas," Nance said. The cause of the fire, one of at least 43 reported in the state Sunday, was under investigation.

Arson was blamed in Oklahoma City for two small grass fires less than a mile apart Sunday that damaged two homes on the city's northeast side, said battalion chief Kirk Wright.

In Colorado, fire officials believe human activity sparked the large fires near Aguilar, though they declined to provide further details. Residents said there had been some controlled burning in the area, where the open land is largely covered by dry sagebrush and grass, and the hills are dotted with pinon and ponderosa pine.

"This just points out that we are very dry in Colorado even though it's winter," said Barb Timock, a U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman. "No matter where we are in Colorado, but especially along the Front Range, we ought to be thinking about being extremely careful with fires outdoors."

Aguilar's 1,000 residents were warned to be prepared to evacuate in case the flames moved closer.

Pam Dorland, a retiree from Sterling who lost her home in the hills outside Aguilar, discovered the wildfire Saturday night when her screen door blew open.

"I went to shut it and I could see the smoke. There was nothing we could do," said Dorland, who returned with her husband Sunday morning to water down the smoldering remains of their house. They wanted to make sure that the remains didn't cause a flare-up.

Wind gusting up to 50 mph prevented authorities from using airplanes to drop slurry on the blazes Sunday, said Pam Martinez of the Huerfano County Sheriff's office.

Another wildfire broke out in northern Colorado, forcing three to four dozen residents to evacuate homes near Carter Lake.

Drought conditions and gusting wind have spread dozens of wildfires across Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico over the past two weeks. At least 475 homes have been destroyed by the winter blazes and five people have been killed.

In Texas, more than 60 wildfires were reported Sunday, though most were relatively small. Burn bans and more firefighting resources, such as aircraft and equipment, have helped firefighters get the blazes under control, said Forest Service fire information officer Jim Caldwell.

Across Oklahoma, fire crews responded to more than 30 fires during the day, including a large blaze in southeast Oklahoma that scorched about 6,000 acres, according to the state's incident command center in Shawnee.

"The big problem today is going to be an expected wind shift coming in from the north," said Richard Reuse, a spokesman for the center. "If firefighters aren't aware of the wind shift while they're putting out a fire, it could get really dangerous for them."

[cozmosis]

I know some folks in south Arkansas were sweating it out this afternoon as the 3,000 acre fire moved close to them. At one point, the front of the fire was reported to be six or seven miles long.

Also, a fire crossed over from Louisiana into Arkansas south of the large fire. The reports I heard stated that Arkansas Forestry had no one to spare so crews from Louisiana followed it north.

As of this evening, all but four of the 75 counties in Arkansas are under an outdoor burn ban. Conditions are so dry that you can look at something the wrong way and it'll catch. Those conditions were made worst today with winds up to 20 mph in place.

[Firetacoma1]

We had about a 10 acre one here last tuesday, which is strange to say the least.
Colorado has had a strange winter. The mountains have gotten slammed with snow but the front range here has been super dry.

[LaFireEducator]

Here in northwest Louisiana we have been under a severe fire warning since mid-December as we are about 20" below normal rainfall for 2004. From early December until just a few days ago, we were averaging 4-6 brush fires a day including at least 1 multi-acre fire. It has since quieted down slightly (now down to 1-2 a day) as the Chief finally put a burn ban into effect and the residents have seem to get the message that the fire conditions are very bad out there thanks to some highly publized local fires and the TX/OK incidents. Most of the parishes (counties) in NW Louisiana are now under a ban. The parish next to use had a fire that moved through a mile of pastureland in less than 15 minutes the other day.

The only thing that has saved us from a very large fire has been that we have less open grassland than TX or OK, and what open land we have is bordered by woods, which slows the fire down and allows us to catch up with it. However, if it remains incredibly warm and dry, in a few weeks even that will not help us as the material on the wood's floor will start to burn almost as fast as the grass.

Coming from the rather asbetos north, this recent wildland activity has been quite an eyeopener to me. The first year I was here we had a dry winter with a fair amount of brush activity, but certainly nothing like this.

[RadRob]

From August to January is the dryest that time frame has EVER seen in N. Texas. We have only had 1.5 inches of rain. Like LaFire said, about 20 inches short of normal. No end in sight for us. LA is supposed to get a little rain soon, but none for us. It has also been record breaking times for temperatures. 84 degrees in JANUARY! Crazy. Stay safe.

[firefighter7160]

We had 150 acres burn on the grant/jefferson county line. Head of the fire had, 50 to 75 foot flames. The fire jump two roads. Area V F D'S that were out there were, Center Grove, Cane Creek, Redfield, Sheridan, Arkansas Forestry, and Jefferson County. No structures were lost thanks to the hard work of the V F D'S.

[LaFireEducator]

All my southwest brothers stay safe as things are really getting dangerous out there. It sounds like the rain we are supposed to get tonight will be a lot less than earlier predicted and very spotty. From what the weather folks are saying now, even if we do get the rain it will only knock things down for a day or two.

This afternoon we did a spot for a local TV station on the dry conditions. There has been a lot more attention by the media in the past week and people seem to be listening. Luckily no 150 acres jobs in our district so far, but it's a pretty good possibility as the woods are really drying out if we don't get some serious rain.

[firefighter7160]

Fire is now 100% out, its raining today... Fire was 336 acres. And no structure's lost. But there are still 3 major fire burning in Arkansas. Once again thanks to the Arkansas Vol's.

[LaFireEducator]

Rain here last night too .. but not much. Only about a 1/4" so it will wet things down for a day or two then back to normal. Looks like temps will be back above normal again tommarrow for the next 7 days with the only real chance of rain being next Monday. Hopefully people will not chose to ignore the burn ban now that we had some rain .. things will be dry enough by tommarrow afternoon to burn again, though at a somewhat slower rate.

Good job on that fire 7160 .. Any fire that large without any lost structures is always a sucess.

[RareRamAir]

Good to see some area's got rain. We got a little thunder, and thats about it.