This weekend marks the one-year anniversary of the High Park Fire northwest of Fort Collins. The 87 thousand acre wildfire destroyed 259 homes and killed one person.
The High Park Fire was one of the most destructive wildfires in Colorado鈥檚 recent history. It wasn鈥檛 alone either. Later in June, it was joined by the in what some called the . At one point, you could see five distinct wildfires .
JUNE 9, 2012
Just before 6:00 a.m. the High Park Fire was discovered about 15 miles west of Fort Collins, Colorado. The fire quickly grew, fueled by high winds and extremely dry vegetation. What as a relatively small 200 acres quickly escalated and finished the day at 8,000 acres. In the path of the fire was KUNC鈥檚 main transmitter, which was as the fire consumed the power lines that fed the site.
Evacuations were ordered on day one of the fire; those would later expand as the fire expanded. lived in Paradise Park, they were among the many evacuated on the first day. They lost their home in the fire, but other buildings on their property remained untouched.
The (MODIS) on NASA鈥檚 satellite captured these images on June 9 (below) and June 10, 2012 (bottom). Red outlines show the approximate boundaries of actively burning fires. Thick smoke was carried eastward on both days.
JUNE 10, 2012
As seen from space just one day later, the fire was growing quickly. The end of the of the fire saw the estimated size grow to 20,000+ acres.
JUNE 11, 2012
On Monday, June 11 the Larimer County Sheriff confirmed late in the day that the fire had claimed a victim. would be the only life lost in the fire. As we :
鈥淗er home received two emergency notifications while the fire advanced and emergency workers that were sent to the home were unable to reach it. They were turned back by the encroaching fire.鈥�
, the fire blackened more than 43,000 acres. As the Incident Management Team took over the fire and brought additional resources to bear, the cause of the fire was announced 鈥� .
This time lapse, taken June 17, shows the smoke that would dominate the view from Fort Collins for the duration of the fire.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2vjKiu3V-U
JUNE 23, 2012
Day fifteen saw another fire break out close to the High Park Fire, an . It was also the start of the . By June 23, the High Park had grown to 81,190 acres.
JULY 1, 2012
It wasn鈥檛 until 23 days after the start, , that the High Park Fire was 100 percent contained. In all, the fire burned 87,284 acres.
Acres Burned by Ownership, according to :
- Private: 39,570
- State: 5,022
- U.S. Forest Service: 42,634
- Bureau of Land Management: 28
- Bureau of Reclamation: 30
Reporter spoke with , keeping in contact with them as they rebuilt after the fire.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been interesting to me because as we鈥檝e observed the last year I figure if I ever write a book, my chapters will have to be color coded to go from the gray to the black to the brown,鈥� said Sharon.
, the Gulis were back on their property working to remove burnt trees. , the rubble from their house is gone and they continue to pursue life on their Paradise Park property.
The was among the first responders to the blaze. All of the departments 35 firefighters and 12 vehicles were devoted to fighting the High Park. They鈥檙e credited with saving many homes, even as eight of their own lost homes to the fire.
The department even lost one of their own buildings, Station Four, near the Whale Rock Subdivision 鈥� one of the hardest hit in the fire. , life was slowly returned to normal for the Rist Canyon VFD, but they were rebuilding like many of the residents.
Reporter recently revisited the , finding that they鈥檙e still 鈥渓iving with the fire.鈥� Daily reminders abound, especially dealing with the after effects of a fire 鈥� namely mudslides and runoff.
One year later, the rebuilding still continues in the High Park Fire burn zone. Of the 259 homes that were lost, . Progress is slow, with only 18 percent of the fire鈥檚 survivors having started the rebuilding process.
A fire near Lory State Park, , rekindled fears of another strong wildfire season. Instead, the season has been slow to start, 鈥� not on fighting anymore fires. Officials, residents, and the forest continue to rebuild and restore after the High Park Fire.
Editor鈥檚 Note: Our full archive of coverage of the High Park Fire starts at the beginning, and continues right up to . You can view a slideshow of photos from , or from the 鈥� home to KUNC鈥檚 transmitter and near to where the fire started.
This post was updated from its original publish time 12:08 p.m. adding additional content.
