Lessons learned from Colorado’s biggest, wildest res
The East Troublesome Fire ran through the Coyote and Kawuneeche Valleys on the west side of Rocky at a rate of 1,000 acres per hour, beginning on Oct. 20 RMNP photo
Part one: my interview with Bill Gabbert, of Wildfire Today and Fire Avia on by Barb Boyer Buck Like others, I was shocked nearly 30,000 acres of Rocky Mountain Na onal Park burned in a single season, more than in any other in its 105-year history. This loss for those who find solace and build lifeforce in the wilderness is painful. It's difficult not to have deep feelings about the events that ravaged through the west side of RMNP and spo ed over the Con nental Divide, evacuated the en re popula ons of Grand Lake and the Estes Valley, and complicated COVID19 suscep bility by crea ng hazardous air quality. Especially since I was si ng in the middle of it. The Cameron Peak Fire started in the Arapaho and Roosevelt Na onal Forests, less than 100 miles north of Estes Park near Red Feather Lakes, on August 13, 2020. The Pine Gulch Fire, which started with a lightning strike earlier in the year 18 miles north of Grand Junc on, had already burned more than 137,000 acres by then. Pine Gulch was declared the largest wildfire in Colorado's history un l this fire grew much larger. This Cameron Peak fire burned 208,913 acres, and containment was not achieved un l early this month.
This fire moved into the northwest boundaries of Rocky during the second week of October and several trail and road closures within the Park's boundaries were the result. On October 14, the East Troublesome Fire ignited north of Hot Sulphur Springs, west of the Con nental Divide. High winds ran the fire uncontrollably more than 100,000 acres between October 20-23, pushing 18 miles into the west boundary of Rocky on the first day. Grand County Sheriff Bre Schroetlin reported this fire intensity and rapid growth as “unheard of. This is the worst of the worst of the worst,” he said, in an interview with NPR. Near the end of this four-day period, the East Troublesome fire spo ed in two places, jumping a mile and a half of tundra on the Con nental Divide, on the east side of the Park. This satellite fire was named the Thompson Zone, and has burned more than 4,346 acres of forested hillsides and meadows in Moraine Park and Upper Beaver Meadows within the boundaries of Rocky. The East Troublesome Fire, including the Thompson Zone was fully contained by the beginning of December.
