By 9 am this morning our outside temperature was 82 degrees, relative humidity 5%, light winds gusting to 25 mph. We haven't had a drop of rain since May 20, and the soil is so dry water won't soak into it. These are the same conditions as the area where the big High Park fire has been burning for 15 days.

From the local news:

"Firefighters lost ground Friday as the High Park Fire slipped back to 45 percent containment after reaching 60 percent earlier in the week.

The fire has burned an estimated 75,537 acres as of Saturday morning.

Nearly a 1,000 evacuation notices were sent out Friday to residents near the High Park Fire. Friday's evacuation area centered mainly along Red Feather's Lake Road (CR 74) as spot fires moved into the Glacier View area.

Some residents who received notices Friday had only returned home two days earlier after leaving when the fire flared up Sunday.

Firefighting crews had no choice but to turn and run in the face of the fast moving fire north of the Poudre River. They left behind homes they'd spent days protecting.

Sky9 captured dramatic video of multiple homes burning in the southern part of Glacier View Meadows.

An unconfirmed preliminary report indicates that 4 to 10 more structures were destroyed with the increase in fire activity Friday. The official number still stands at 191.

Officials say the High Park Fire is the most destructive fire in Colorado history."

Fire Progression Map (may load slow). This is an older map - 5 days old - the fire is currently quite a bit north of where it was on June 18, and the recent houses burning are in the subdivision you can see just south of the text box in the upper left corner where it says "June 10-18, 2012."

I'm still monitoring the fire fighters' radio Radio Reference: Larimer County Fire & EMS so yesterday I heard it when the fire gained momentum and moved north into an area of homes.

And then I heard: "That smoke column that people are reporting is from the Estes Park Fire." WHAT? That's a whole new fire closer to my home. Fire trucks are passing our property on the highway headed for Estes Park.



"Crowning fire in trees and exploding propane tanks warn away casual visitors to a fire at 1601 High Dr, Estes Park on Saturday. The neighborhood around the fire is being evacuated as high winds whip the flames."



This is a densely-populated mountain subdivision (1/2 acre lots) on the west side of town. It started at the structure and is spreading through the neighborhood to other houses. Someone is going to receive a large bill for any assistance provided by the US Forest Service.

Time to go move some stuff to the garage, staging for our own evacuation order. This particular fire isn't a threat to us, but the next one might be.