Colorado Wildfire - High Park Fire

64,440 acres burned by the High Park Wildfire.  It has consumed 191 homes and 733 new evacuation orders went out today and it is only 60% contained.  No weather relief in the next 3 days.

Those are daunting figures and the cost to fight the fire is reaching very high but the real cost is the loss to families who had a fairly normal life, now have nothing but what they were able to carry away in their vehicles.  Pets lost, family memories lost, homeless, no possessions, and months and maybe years of trying to start over.  It just goes to show how your life can change in the blink of an eye.

Make that now 192 homes burned,  TV news just had helicopter coverage of another home consumed and the family SUV was sitting in the driveway.  Losses like this are not measured in dollars, but in grief and heart break.  Some people had to leave their live stock behind, pets, and things that they had worked hard for years to have that made their lives more comfortable.  Yes this type of tragedy can only be measured in heart ache and from what I have seen it is a high price.

I imagine that many families live in HOA's and if it is anything like ours for years they fought and bickered over the cutting of a single live tree.  Now that wildfires are consuming the State it is evident to see that fire mitigation is too little - too late.  Just plain stupid if you ask me.  Build a log home in the wilderness, coat it in a very flammable coating, leave trees in place next to the structure and hope a wildfire doesn't happen that will spoil your picture book scene.  Beetle kill trees all around the area that literally explode and shoot flames 2-300 feet or higher into the air.

This is just a very sad situation for many families who still haven't been able to return to their  home to see if it survived or not.  On the good side the wildfire fuel is now gone and many homes were saved by the valiant fire fighters who have been working many days on saving lives and homes.