Wind whipped fires raging through Boulder County • Hacker News Board

Re: Wind whipped fires raging through Boulder County

#51

Post by JPKab » Fri, Dec 31, 2021, 6:09 AM UTC

elpakal wrote: post #9

Sparkle-san wrote: post #3

I'm from this area and still live close enough that I can see the smoke. We have been experiencing a drought, seeing temperatures reaching almost 70 in December, and broke the record this year for latest first snow fall. These fires started in the late morning possibly from a downed power line and by the early afternoon had spread rapidly. Hundreds of structures including entire subdivisions have burned to the ground…

In Florida now but I live in NW Arvada, watching updates in horror, but didn’t they say winds were over 100 mph too? Add that to the cocktail you describe above, and boom.

I also live in Northwest Arvada and we had 115 mph winds today. My coworkers were hearing my house rattle when I was on a call today.

If your house is close to 93 and 72 you probably have a ton of debris in your yard.

The Chinook winds were the worst I've seen. When I heard there were fires I knew it was going to be bad. But I couldn't imagine that it was going to burn down entire shopping centers.

Re: Wind whipped fires raging through Boulder County

#52

Post by dredmorbius » Fri, Dec 31, 2021, 6:29 AM UTC

goopthink wrote: post #16

goopthink wrote: post #12

I live in the neighborhood, but we are just outside of the evacuation zone. This part of Colorado is — in other times — a really nice mixed-use set of communities. It has a lot of open fields, farms, businesses, and “old town” town centers right alongside very dense apartment buildings and single family homes. We haven’t had snow or rain in almost two months, and everything is very dry. I saw the wind bringing flames…

Here’s a good visual of that in action: https://twitter.com/ShaulTurner/status/1476722513195405315?s... # But really, any #MarshallFire twitter post right now.

Nitter link: https://nitter.kavin.rocks/search?q=%23MarshallFire

Re: Wind whipped fires raging through Boulder County

#53

Post by dredmorbius » Fri, Dec 31, 2021, 6:35 AM UTC

justinator wrote: post #5

I don’t believe danger is imminent but it is incredible how close this fire is to the former Rocky Flats. This is the second time in as many years I’ve been surprised to see fires close enough to be viewed from the front yard - in exact opposite directions. I’m at the N Boulder rec center with my partner (a reporter) covering this for the NYT. Thankfully it seems quiet and the wind is dying down. Pray for snow!

Context: Rocky Flats, Colorado, is the site of the former Rocky Flats Weapons Plant, a manufacturing facility for US nuclear weapons, and since the 1990s, a major environmental contamination and cleanup site.

Though much radioactive material was removed (including 21 tons of weapons-grade material), concerns over residual radioactive contamination being made airborne through fire or other disturbance remain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Flats_Plant

Re: Wind whipped fires raging through Boulder County

#54

Post by sounds » Fri, Dec 31, 2021, 6:41 AM UTC

This really hits home for me, this is not a brushfire in a wilderness. It's moving fast, too!

Re: Wind whipped fires raging through Boulder County

#55

Post by stevenwoo » Fri, Dec 31, 2021, 6:45 AM UTC

kleinsch wrote: post #31

My house probably burned, we’ll find out in the morning. Family is safe, got out in time and we have a place to stay, so blessed in that regard. We just moved from the Bay Area last year. This isn’t an area in the wilderness, it’s suburbia. This would be like if 600 homes on the edge of Fremont or San Jose burned. Freak situation where we haven’t had rain in 3 months, winds were super high, temps were high for Dec, a…

The last fire came within five miles of Cupertino and people I know that live near to 280/Rancho San Antonio got evacuation warnings before the wind turned.

Re: Wind whipped fires raging through Boulder County

#56

Post by fblp » Fri, Dec 31, 2021, 7:16 AM UTC

So many of the fires in California have also been started by downed electrical lines.

Although this is tragic, tech to help manage fires is coming along and states can raise their standards to encourage private companies to manage risk.

This has happened in Victoria, Australia: https://spectrum.ieee.org/how-an-australian-state-faced-deva...

Re: Wind whipped fires raging through Boulder County

#57

Post by LukeShu » Fri, Dec 31, 2021, 7:18 AM UTC

throwaway984393 wrote: post #21

I'm wondering if fire-prone areas should be zoned to require fireproof building. No more wood homes/roofs. Europe generally doesn't use wood home construction, so doesn't seem crazy

> fire-prone areas

This isn't in the foothills, where fires are expected. This is where no one expected a fire like this.

Re: Wind whipped fires raging through Boulder County

#58

Post by 01100011 » Fri, Dec 31, 2021, 7:26 AM UTC

goopthink wrote: post #12

I live in the neighborhood, but we are just outside of the evacuation zone. This part of Colorado is — in other times — a really nice mixed-use set of communities. It has a lot of open fields, farms, businesses, and “old town” town centers right alongside very dense apartment buildings and single family homes. We haven’t had snow or rain in almost two months, and everything is very dry. I saw the wind bringing flames…

> Any other combination - not as dry, not as windy, and it would have been a small localized fire.

If what I heard was correct and they're having 110 mph wind gusts, any fire is likely to spread, even in a neighborhood. I agree the open space makes it spread even faster, but with that kind of wind, fire reaches a new level of destruction.

Re: Wind whipped fires raging through Boulder County

#59

Post by 01100011 » Fri, Dec 31, 2021, 7:28 AM UTC

stevenwoo wrote: post #55

kleinsch wrote: post #31

My house probably burned, we’ll find out in the morning. Family is safe, got out in time and we have a place to stay, so blessed in that regard. We just moved from the Bay Area last year. This isn’t an area in the wilderness, it’s suburbia. This would be like if 600 homes on the edge of Fremont or San Jose burned. Freak situation where we haven’t had rain in 3 months, winds were super high, temps were high for Dec, a…

The last fire came within five miles of Cupertino and people I know that live near to 280/Rancho San Antonio got evacuation warnings before the wind turned.

It's only a matter of time before Los Gatos, Saratoga, Almaden, etc suffer major fire damage. CalFire defensible space recommendations are largely ignored.

Re: Wind whipped fires raging through Boulder County

#60

Post by 01100011 » Fri, Dec 31, 2021, 7:38 AM UTC

Syonyk wrote: post #36

dntrkv wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not an expert in the matter, but I’ve heard that modern wood frames are just as good as steel frames. If the fire is close and strong enough to ignite a wood stud, the steel stud would already fail. Though would love input from an expert here.

Not an expert, but have done a lot of reading and some writing on wildfires, fire resistant structures, etc. I live on a hill that catches fire rather more often than I really enjoy and spend a lot of my spring cutting firebreaks. Any sort of structure, wood or not, will withstand a huge radiant flux of energy before catching fire. Well, well beyond what will crispy fry a human, the siding may be charred, but it won'…

I've heard roof vents are good at sucking the burning embers into the attic. I believe they make shutters for roof vents for this reason but I don't know for sure. Going through the big San Diego fires was definitely a lesson in taking defensible space seriously and appreciating the threat of burning embers.