# Poudre Canyon and fire



## catwoman (Jun 22, 2009)

Mish was still standing a couple days ago. Saw it on a news copter flyover.


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## hkydef (Jun 7, 2006)

Got this link from the Colorodoan. Hope it works. Looks like fire jumped the river in a couple of spots (i.e. Pineview). Also looks like the fire is up to/or close to the river's edge in a lot of places (i.e. Bridges put-in, Lower Mish). 
https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=...235291&spn=0.234564,0.44632&z=11&source=embed

It looks better in satellite mode.


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## Ken F (Jun 23, 2004)

Another pretty recent map. Some pictures have been posted of the river corridor, some of which show the fire burning down towards the Middle Narrows. 

http://co.dtswildfire.com/Home/Flex


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## rockinRio (Jul 3, 2006)

*High Park Fire Incident Info page*

Best info I've seen on the fire, any fire actually.

InciWeb the Incident Information System: High Park Fire


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## jsyz (Apr 11, 2007)

Here's a good current map:

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2012/0614/20120614_113154_HighPark_0613_2200.pdf


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## openboat (Jul 13, 2004)

A few days ago I saw a map showing the fire jumped the river at Poudre Park. How are the houses there?


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## Randaddy (Jun 8, 2007)

I just got down from Poudre Park. We spent the night up there and saw numerous spot fires on the South side of the river. Poudre Park itself (we did not inspect any side streets) along the river looked pretty good. The firehouse, all of the houses around it, the Columbine Lodge, and all the houses on the north side of the road along the river seemed to be fine. We couldn’t inspect everything, as we were in a hurry, but what we saw from the river was hopeful and surprisingly green through much of Poudre Park. We did see a burned garage next to a saved house in the lowest part of Poudre Park. The house opposite the road and upstream ¼ mile (where Jamie Jazinski used to live) seems to be in tact.

If anyone knows Becky and Roger from Colombine Lodge, please tell them that in addition to their property being apparently unharmed there are absolutely no signs of looting. Everything looks secure and untouched. 
From Hewlett Gulch down the canyon there is more green than black it seemed. Picnic Rock saw a destroyed home and a lot of burn, but the parking lot and its structures survived, I think.
We have not been above Hewlett, but will report and post more when we get up there. I’m running the raft team for the incident and am not in the canyon illegally, so please hold back any calls to the authorities. That said, I’d rather keep these photos among the residents and out of the press in general, but please share them in whatever way seems to be the most effective to letting people know the status of their homes.
I’m going to follow this by posting as many pictures as I can. You can contact me by private message and please understand if I don’t get back to you right away, I have to sleep some and will be back up there again tonight.


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## Randaddy (Jun 8, 2007)

*Poudre Park and below 6/15/12*

about 8:00 am


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## paulk (Apr 24, 2006)

is breck's fine?


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## Randaddy (Jun 8, 2007)

more from this morning









I'll post more as they upload


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## Randaddy (Jun 8, 2007)

This is the house that lost its garage but the house looks like it was saved.


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## Randaddy (Jun 8, 2007)




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## Randaddy (Jun 8, 2007)




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## Fuzzy (May 25, 2005)

Thanks for the pics. come on rain


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## Randaddy (Jun 8, 2007)




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## Randaddy (Jun 8, 2007)

Ben, we might not have taken a photo of your house just the garage/guest house, but your house with all the windows above BTO appeared to be intact and unburned. Again, we were traveling pretty fast but it seemed as fine as the garage does.


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## Randaddy (Jun 8, 2007)




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## Randaddy (Jun 8, 2007)

That's all I have. If I can get any more photos out I'll post them here. There is risk of rockfall right now, but the road was pretty passable in the lower canyon. Let's hope they can safely open it soon.


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## smauk2 (Jun 24, 2009)

Thanks for the photos Randaddy.


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## rhoek958 (Jul 27, 2008)

*High Park fire photos (Poudre River)*

Hi River Fans - 

I've been working on this fire since Saturday and managed to take a few shots that may be of interest. Got a flight yesterday and had an aerial view, and shot a few from the highway this morning. Yes, Mishawaka is still there, along with a number of crews who were staging there for today's operations. The fire has backed down to the highway in some places (especially the lower canyon) and has made it west as far as Upper Narrows. Could well be to Dutch George by tomorrow. Crews are using selective firing operations to tie things in to the highway to secure things as spots across the river would be a bad thing. To the west, they're prepping the Pingree Park Road for possible firing and holding should the fire make it that far (which is likely).

Be prepared for a very different-looking canyon next time you get back up there. There has been a lot of fire to the south, and it will be in a state of regrowth and change for many years.

Enjoy!

Kelly Close


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## sarahkonamojo (May 20, 2004)

Thanks for the photos. What a season for the Poudre Canyon! Such a special place undergoing a great deal of change.
S


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## BrianK (Feb 3, 2005)

Thanks Randy. Good to see so many buildings intact. I was worried that poudre park was in real bad shape after looking at some of the fire maps.


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## raftcolorado (Sep 15, 2008)

*Thanks everyone*

Thanks to all for providing information and photos. It's nice to see green. Relying on the news has us all thinking the canyon is black and the roads are melted.
Appreciate your efforts and we all can't wait to get back in there.


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## rhoek958 (Jul 27, 2008)

raftcolorado - 

Yes, it's been frustrating to see what's portrayed on the news versus the reality I know from working "on the inside" on local fires in recent weeks. I'm glad I've been in a position to provide some updates from behind the lines. It's a mixed bag of fire intensity up there. Some places got hit hard, some areas are a patchwork, some are unchanged. The south face of the canyon is generally a lower intensity backing fire, and the upper reaches had more intense crown fire runs (more exposed to the wind). In the bigger picture, it's actually good to have a mosaic of burn intensities for landscape health, and you'll all be pleasantly surprised at how fast things recover and how cool it will be to watch the changes the next few years. There - that's my fire ecology lecture for the day.

Funny, the other day, being a local kayaker came in handy on a large wildfire - the helicopter pilot I flew with was from out of the area and trying to get oriented to local landmarks. We picked out a ton of features and locations in the canyon and he loved having that local information on landmarks and features along the river.

I'll do what I can to keep providing information as I get it, but my involvement in the fire may well subside after the weekend. There are a couple of places folks can go to keep up with current information:
InciWeb the Incident Information System: High Park Fire
for information that's updated fairly frequently, and
GeoMac: Communications Consultation, Marketing Strategy and Digital Development
for current perimeters of active fires in Google Earth format.

Hang in there everyone - it's not fun missing the last of the boating days, and actually being up there ("so close, but no") might actually be worse. I'm seriously jonesing. But we'll all get back up there soon enough. Just be ready for a new and different Poudre Canyon (and a very interesting new start).

Kelly Close


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## chewydog (Jun 5, 2009)

Kelly,
Love your optimism.


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## rhoek958 (Jul 27, 2008)

Oops... that should be geomac.gov, *not* geomac.com. Sorry about that. Click "View Perimeters/View kml" and scroll down to the High Park Fire. This site doesn't work so well with Internet Destroyer, so you may want to try it with Firefox or Chrome.


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## the_dude (May 31, 2006)

here's another good, comprehensive site:

http://co.dtswildfire.com/Home/Flex

pulls in inciweb, LCSO, Geomac, NIFC, and social media info.

thanks all for the updates. i think we all knew (or should have known) this was coming someday, but it's still sad to see it happen.


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