The Bircher Fire is now well over 17,000 acers
& GROWING
Click on any photo
that is in a Blue frame to see a full size frame!
On July 20th a fire
broke out in the Mesa Verda National Park area, the fire was
reported around 1PM and within the hour was on the move and had
grown in size to almost 60 acers, this fire was caused by
lightning on Sunday and did not flare up till Thursday afternoon,
this fire is called The Bircher Fire.
July 20,
2000 at sun down, taken from the deck off the North side of the
house looking West. By 8PM the fire had grown to 1200 acers.
July 21st 2000
In this photo the smoke colomn is right behind
our house,, It rises right between our house and mom's house.
Again on the evening of the 21st this fire
rages and grows at a rapid rate, burning through out the night.
The clump of trees at the bottom of the
column
of smoke is our place.
These next two look North, the fire is West.
South face of the La Plata's
July 22st 2000
Yesterday the Bircher Fire grew from 1200
acers to right at 3500 acers by this morning, today watching from
20 plus miles away it looks as though it has doubled in size,
This side was taken at 10:30 AM.........The
middle was taken at 6PM........This side at 8:30PM...........
Compare the three photos below with the one
from yesterday.
As of 5PM the Bircher Fire has now grown to
over 5500 acers.
They are far from any containment on this Fire.
The following is a pan shot from the due West
to the Very North.
July 23st 2000
As of Sunday morning at 6 AM the fire has
grown to just over 6000 acers. This fire will cook again today.
This first shot is at 8:30AM and this fire is
already cooking and ready to run..
These next two were taken at 6:30 PM, if you
campare to yesterday and the day before you can see how big this
fire now is. It looks as though it has grown by another 2000 to
3000 acers. Have not heard any size reports.
The flight path for the bombers is around us,
into the fire on one side and back in on the other. Many of the
flights have been right over head. In thses next few shots if you
look hard you can see the bombers. The shot in the middle is
right over our shop.
July 24th 2000
By the looks of things this fire grew again
over night, here is a quote from the paper,
"When they get this big, you
don’t put them out," said Tim Oliverious,
fire management officer for the National Park Service.
"It will take a major change in the weather,
topography or fuels, and right now the forces are
lined up in favor of the fire."
Fire Analyst Mike Frary said extremely dry
conditions and hot weather have contributed to "super active
fire behavior." The fire is so large it creates its own
weather, he said.
Cumulus clouds have been forming at the top of
the gigantic smoke plume, Frary said. Fire takes moisture from
the plants, the vapor rises thousands of feet into the air, and
winds are created, he said. The clouds can be a source of dry
lightning.
The Bircher Fire is now well over 17,000 acers
& GROWING
I will not be able to add an more photos at
this time as the smoke is so thick here we can only see about 3
miles, looks like a really smogy day in the mid `70s in Southern
California. Also it looks as though it is snowing out here, there
is so much ash coming out of the sky!!!
The Mountains in this photo are only nine
miles to the North and we can not see them.....
At this time the fire is still out of control
and growing very fast, reports are that it has now dropped off of
the rim and is burning down toward Cortez.
Compare this to the one from the 23rd.
Copyright © 1998 - 2007
Photographs are the copyrighted property of Quilts By Cindy &
Zoo Auctions.
July 20,
2000 at sun down, taken from the deck off the North side of the
house looking West. By 8PM the fire had grown to 1200 acers.
column
of smoke is our place.
