[NCARC] Fw: Re: Fires

[WA5SWD@att.net]

All:

A friend in Texas sent me this link to a site that seems to have good info about the fire.
Credit him, not me!  I've been out of town.

Ed Lawrence  WA5SWD

Cell 970-481-4491 Home 970-568-4400

--- On Mon, 6/11/12, Chadwick Stelzl, KD5UMO <kd5umo at yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Chadwick Stelzl, KD5UMO <kd5umo at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Fires
To: "WA5SWD at att.net" <wa5swd at att.net>
Date: Monday, June 11, 2012, 8:56 PM

This may help:
http://www.inciweb.org/incident/2904/ 
 Chadwick Stelzl-KD5UMO 
 Collin County ARES-AEC NWS SKYWARN Liaison
 Plano, TXGV:  972.510.5866 at KD5UMO
www.n5tim.infowww.collinares.net
Be involved. Raise the bar.My weather:  http://tinyurl.com/WX-KD5UMO

        From: "WA5SWD at att.net" <wa5swd at att.net>
 To: KD5UMOChadwick Stelzl <kd5umo at yahoo.com> 
 Sent: Monday, June 11, 2012 8:10 PM
 Subject: Re: Fires
   

Hi Chad, 

All is well here, and we are not in danger from the nearby fire.  I came back from my 
trip to Ham-Com last night, and Fort Collins was very smokey, as the fire was raging
beyond the foothills, directly west.  

As I drove north from Denver, there was an incredible cloud of smoke visible.  It had to be 
well over a mile thick, extending for tens of miles east from the fire.  It was in two layers, 
merging together at mid altitudes, like nothing I have ever seen before.

It was nearly full dark as I turned west on my last 4 miles home.  I was well north of the 
smoke that plagued Fort Collins, and I could see light from the fire reflected in the clouds.
There were several bright flashes of red light as trees exploded into flame, just beyond the 
foothills, west
 of Fort Collins.  It
 looked like warfare, not a fire.

Chad, the pine forests here have been decimated by the Pine Bark Beetles.  Several 
months ago I and a friend went looking for a diamond mine, but access was not permitted.
We saw hundreds of acres of trees, and 80% were dead.  the Enviornmental cases refuse
to permit efforts to control this plague, and Mother Nature will eventually solve this problem
with a massive forest fire.

It will be hundreds of square miles burnt, not hundreds of acres!  Man will be unable to 
control this, and hundreds or thousands of homes lost.  Many will die, either trapped in 
those homes or in fighting the fire.  

I lost control of a trash fire on a day with a light wind.  My grass was a bit dry, and I could 
not keep it from spreading.  A grass fire 6 inches high, 20 feet long, and I could not get 
near the flames to apply water, as it was far to hot!  Now
 thing of a forest fire!  Not a flame
6 inches high, but as much as 60 FEET!  I don't even want to think about that level of heat!

I did not see you at Ham-Com, but I saw a lot of the other PARK members.  I had a good
time, and will be back next year if possible.

BCNU.

Ed Lawrence  WA5SWD

Cell 970-481-4491 Home 970-568-4400

--- On Mon, 6/11/12, Chadwick Stelzl, KD5UMO <kd5umo at yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Chadwick Stelzl, KD5UMO <kd5umo at yahoo.com>
Subject: Fires
To: "Ed Lawrence (WA5SWD)" <wa5swd at att.net>
Date: Monday, June 11, 2012, 11:45 AM

Everything okay at the house? Chadwick Stelzl-KD5UMO
 
 Collin County ARES-AEC NWS SKYWARN
 Liaison
 Plano, TXGV:  972.510.5866 at KD5UMO
www.n5tim.infowww.collinares.net
Be involved. Raise the bar.My weather:  http://tinyurl.com/WX-KD5UMO