WORST WILDFIRE IN COLORADO HISTORY STATUS : June 17, 2012

1. WORST WILDFIRE IN COLORADO HISTORYSTATUS: June 17, 2012 Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, University of North Carolina, USA

2. THE 2012 HIGH PARK, CO WILDFIRE

3. HIGH PARK WILDFIRE • Located 26 km (15 miles) West of Fort Collins, the lightning-caused fire had burned 85 square acres and destroyed 181 homes between June 6 and June 17. • More than 1,630 firefighters were working on the partially contained fire on Saturday, June 16th.

4. VERY DIFFICULT FIREFIGHTING CONDITIONS GET WORSE • Firefighting crews, working for 11 days just to get a difficult fire in a difficult terrain under 45 percent control, faced hot, dry, “sundowner” winds of 800 kph (500 mph) with temperatures of 90 degrees F on Sunday.

5. HIGH PARK, CO WILDFIRE ON JUNE 11TH

6. ONE OF THE FIREFIGHTING HELICOPTERS: JUNE 15, 2012

7. REFILLING FOR ANOTHER WATER DROP

8. EVACUATIONS ORDERED • At present, 3,000 people have received notices to evacuate.

9. BACKGROUND

10. Natural Phenomena that Cause Disasters Planet Earth’s atmospheric-lithospheric interactions cause: • Wildfires

11. SCIENCE OF WILDFIRES

12. WILDFIRES are conflagrations caused by lightning discharges (or acts of man) in wilderness areas close enough to one or more urban interfaces that they threaten people, property, infrastructure, and business enterprise.

13. WILDFIRES CAN CAUSE HIGH-RISK SITUATIONS Any wildfire, whatever the cause, can be devastating to people, property, infra-structure, business enterprise, individual livelihoods, wildlife, and the environment.

14. HAZARDS • INVENTORY • VULNERABILITY • LOCATION • PREVENTION/MITIGATION • PREPAREDNESS • INTERVENTION/ RESPONSE • RECOVERY and • RECONSTRUCTION RISK ASSESSMENT POLICY OPTIONS ACCEPTABLE RISK RISK UNACCEPTABLE RISK WILDFIRE DISASTER RISK REDUCTION DATA BASES AND INFORMATION COMMUNITY HAZARDS: GROUND SHAKING GROUND FAILURE SURFACE FAULTING TECTONIC DEFORMATION TSUNAMI RUN UP AFTERSHOCKS

15. THE WILDERNESS AREAS typically contain national forests, national parks, or resorts and the adjacent urban areas typically contain large, expensive homes.

16. WILDFIRE HAZARDS (AKA POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS) • FIRE • HOT GASES AND SMOKE • HOT SPOTS • BURNED OUT SLOPES (with increased susceptibility to insect infestation, erosion, and landslides)

17. WILDFIRE HAZARDS (AKA POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS) • SUNDOWNER WINDS • SANTA ANNA WINDS • LOCAL CHANGES IN AIR QUALITY • LOCAL CHANGES IN WEATHER

18. FORECASTS OF WEATHER CONDITIONS MONITORING TECHNOLOGIES (E.G., REMOTE SENSING, TEMPER-ATURE, HUMIDITY, WINDS) WARNING SYSTEMS INTERVENTION STRATEGIES DATABASES FOR EACH WILDFIRE COMPUTER MODELS OF WILDFIRES MAPS; ZONING DISASTER SCENARIOS HAZARD AND RISK ASSESSMENTS EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES FOR FIGHTING WILDFIRES

19. THE 2012 HIGH PARK WILDFIRE HAS ALREADY SURPASSED 2010’S FOURMILE CANYON WILDFIRE NEAR BOULDER, CO

20. THE FIRST LARGE WILDFIRE IN 50 YEARS RAVAGES BOULDER, COLORADO AN EXAMPLE OF NOT HAVING THE CAPACITY WHEN AN INFREQUENT HAZARDOUS EVENT HAPPENS SEPTEMBER 6-9, 2010

21. The largest wildfire in Boulder county in 50 years was started by an automobile accidentally hitting a propane tank.

22. WILDFIRE IN FOUR MILE CANYON NEAR BOULDER

23. WILDFIRE NEAR BOULDER, COLORADO

24. A DISTANT VIEW OF THE RAPIDLY MOVING WILDFIRE

25. BUSES BURNED

26. ONLY A FEW FIRE FIGHTING HELICOPTERS

27. FILLING UP WITH WATER AT BOULDER RESERVOIR

28. MANY TRIPS WERE NEEDED

29. 3,500 residents were forced to flee their homes to escape the fast moving fire that burned more than 7,120 acres of very dry trees and brush.

30. GOVERNOR BILL RITTER ANNOUNCED SUPPORT

31. The wildfire destroyed 169 structures, most of them in just 2 days.