Ready, Aim, FIRE!

[Jer]

Speaking to the current status of these fires and some of the conversation about how they started:

Alexander Mountain Fire: This one is somewhere in the sub-8k acres range although we haven't got any official updates in a bit so it's probably north of that now. A bit of good news came in the form of positive sign that it was now 1% contained which is a step (albeit small) in the right direction. Things have moved away from the higher population density area of the East front of the fire near NW Loveland the last day or so. The front has largely gone West and a little North which is about a best case scenario aside from the thing just magically putting itself out. It's much less population & structures that way and pretty soon it will run up against the burn scars from the previous fires. It's also spread at a much lower rate than the first couple of days. The continued minimal amount of wind coupled with inching ever-closer to some forecasted precipitation on Monday has things looking more positive for us on the boundary of the evacuation zones. The previous claim was that no structures have been lost in this fire but I think reports are starting to surface of lost sheds, garages and possibly even homes. I think they're largely focusing resources on structures and evacuations and less about actually "fighting" the fire rather than coaxing it safer directions.

Stone Canyon Fire: This one has grown to about 1,500 acres and is estimated to be at about 20% containment. Early reports indicate that a human's remains was found in one of the five structures burned in this fire near where the suspected start of the fire. I'm not sure if that was where it actually originated and the person had anything to do with it but I'm sure we'll know more soon enough as investigations continue.

Lake Shore Fire: Yeah, there's now a 4th in close proximity to higher population front range cities. Last I saw this one was at 6 acres and 0% containment. It sounds like some are saying that someone was having fence work done and the contractors may have inadvertently started the fire.

Quarry Fire: It seems this is the smallest of the bunch fortunately at a few hundred acres so far and over 20% contained (possibly more as that figure was yesterday) thankfully. The reports stated that this one was originally reported by a JeffCo Sheriff Deputy on patrol. They said that when he first spotted it it was roughly 10ft x 10ft. If I play remote forensic expert on this one; since his patrol likely would have been on a highway and he came across it at such an early time in the burn this one wreaks of some bonehead flicking their cig out the window of a moving car. I hope I'm wrong and I know there are many other potentials but that's my guess on this one. It's also possible maybe he was a little bit further off of the beaten path which would lean more towards a possible camp fire or other similarly "outdoorsy" type contributors.

In the end, most wildfires are started by humans in one form or another. The fact there weren't any storms or reported lightning strikes in the area of any of these fires for many dry days leading up to them supports that they were most likely also not cause by mother nature. Hopefully the positive to come from this is reaffirming what we should all already know by now.