This video is about the Horse Park Fire in Colorado in May of 2018. For more on this incident view official reports here: lessons.wildfire.gov/incident...
Wow...that fire tornado was pretty damn incredible. The temperatures from fires like that along with the wind speeds and spread speeds make that tornado far more horrifying than I could have imagined
I couldn't tell from the video, but the right side of the column looked like one half of a counter-rotating vortex. Which means extreme fire behavior. Already obvious by the flame length.
I don't understand. @ 11:05 it shows the location of the escape fire/pickup point. The lookout traveled all that distance from the original spot shown @ 7:11. at about 9 min in, looks to me like the terrain between there and the pickup point is unburned. Where was the fire??
Right. I read that. The map on page 13 of the main report shows how far the lookout traveled outside the burn area to the point where she lit off her escape fire and was ultimately picked up. Looks to me like the fire never made it that far.
Sounds like the wind shifted according to the statement from the first guy that made it out when he said he felt wind in his face. Those fires can move very fast and she is very lucky that wind shifted when it did,God had his hand on that job and those Fire Fighters!!
I know Ashley (the lookout) pretty well. As she told it to me, where she dropped her pack she had 40' flames in her peripheral vision on both sides as she was running north. It was hot and close enough she was worried 5-10 seconds would be enough delay to get her killed. Once she dropped the pack she was able to move faster, and continued until the smoke over her head was no longer completely black, then climbed the bank and lit her escape fire. It was a bit under a mile and a half from pack drop to escape. She's way fitter than I ever was, and I used to run that distance in about 15-20 minutes in rough terrain, with nothing trying to kill me. The draw she was following changes from due north to more northwest just past her drop point, while the wind shifted from blowing north to blowing east at some point during the day. Eric mentioned the wind hitting his face on his sprint north to the parking lot, but that might've been air getting drawn back in since it was so close behind. The parking lot is also exposed to the southwest, the mesa drops off there so prevailing winds could come down and account for it too. The fire burned past parking shortly after they left, so it definitely continued north. Lot evacuation was around 1708. You can see near the end of the video (00:11:10-end) that when the UTV with Roy aboard came tearing into the parking area, the fire was moving straight at them parallel to the road (which runs northwest into the lot) but the winds aloft were pushing the smoke up and to the side in the video instead of streaming straight over them. That would place the plume north-ish. Pictures from later in the day show the smoke rising almost due east, but her escape fire burned north-northwest. She set that fire after the parking lot evac, so the plume was very likely still low, thick and headed north; she would have been in the middle of it until she reached her evac point which is masked by a ridge just to the southwest. The fire followed her about halfway up her escape route, but I'm not certain how far it had gotten before she got picked up by the helicopter. She told me there was a damn big wall of fire and black smoke looking south from her escape burn, and she was deeply concerned that the fire would reach her before her burn got big enough to be survivable. Then Air found her and the helicopter dropped in. That was around 1744. She's out again today, fighting another fire.
Clear, observant minds are required to assess and react constructively to hectic situations. Being able to clearly describe the situation as it unfolded is a sign of such a clear mind and enables teaching. Yes, people do think, write and talk like that.
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Wow...that fire tornado was pretty damn incredible. The temperatures from fires like that along with the wind speeds and spread speeds make that tornado far more horrifying than I could have imagined
This is my brother's crew. I'm glad he wasnt in this situation. He came home early due this.
I‘m glad you all made it out.
JUST GLAD YOU MADE IT
Damn, Ashley ran far! She must have been in fantastic shape. I know all these hotshots are, but still...
I couldn't tell from the video, but the right side of the column looked like one half of a counter-rotating vortex. Which means extreme fire behavior. Already obvious by the flame length.
THIS WAS SAD TOO ALL FIREMEN ARE HEROES TO ME
Did the green type 3 get out? Looked like it hadn't moved yet??
I suspect the heat difference in the air around forest fires affects radios like sonar is affected in water....
Damn, I hope that lookout is now nicknamed Forest Gump because she just kept running and running.
So the lookout failed them?
I Praise God they all made it to safety.
Why? Surely your god was responsible for them being in danger to begin with?
I don't understand. @ 11:05 it shows the location of the escape fire/pickup point. The lookout traveled all that distance from the original spot shown @ 7:11. at about 9 min in, looks to me like the terrain between there and the pickup point is unburned. Where was the fire??
Read the report for full details: www.wildfirelessons.net/viewdocument/horse-park-fire-entrapment-2018
Right. I read that. The map on page 13 of the main report shows how far the lookout traveled outside the burn area to the point where she lit off her escape fire and was ultimately picked up. Looks to me like the fire never made it that far.
Sounds like the wind shifted according to the statement from the first guy that made it out when he said he felt wind in his face. Those fires can move very fast and she is very lucky that wind shifted when it did,God had his hand on that job and those Fire Fighters!!
roger that. Ever since reading about Granite Mountain, I've been sucking up books, reports, videos, etc regarding wildfires....trying to learn .
I know Ashley (the lookout) pretty well. As she told it to me, where she dropped her pack she had 40' flames in her peripheral vision on both sides as she was running north. It was hot and close enough she was worried 5-10 seconds would be enough delay to get her killed. Once she dropped the pack she was able to move faster, and continued until the smoke over her head was no longer completely black, then climbed the bank and lit her escape fire.
It was a bit under a mile and a half from pack drop to escape. She's way fitter than I ever was, and I used to run that distance in about 15-20 minutes in rough terrain, with nothing trying to kill me. The draw she was following changes from due north to more northwest just past her drop point, while the wind shifted from blowing north to blowing east at some point during the day.
Eric mentioned the wind hitting his face on his sprint north to the parking lot, but that might've been air getting drawn back in since it was so close behind. The parking lot is also exposed to the southwest, the mesa drops off there so prevailing winds could come down and account for it too. The fire burned past parking shortly after they left, so it definitely continued north. Lot evacuation was around 1708.
You can see near the end of the video (00:11:10-end) that when the UTV with Roy aboard came tearing into the parking area, the fire was moving straight at them parallel to the road (which runs northwest into the lot) but the winds aloft were pushing the smoke up and to the side in the video instead of streaming straight over them. That would place the plume north-ish. Pictures from later in the day show the smoke rising almost due east, but her escape fire burned north-northwest. She set that fire after the parking lot evac, so the plume was very likely still low, thick and headed north; she would have been in the middle of it until she reached her evac point which is masked by a ridge just to the southwest.
The fire followed her about halfway up her escape route, but I'm not certain how far it had gotten before she got picked up by the helicopter. She told me there was a damn big wall of fire and black smoke looking south from her escape burn, and she was deeply concerned that the fire would reach her before her burn got big enough to be survivable. Then Air found her and the helicopter dropped in. That was around 1744.
She's out again today, fighting another fire.
why does this all sound like a Hollywood movie? people don't really write or talk like this, do they?
Clear, observant minds are required to assess and react constructively to hectic situations. Being able to clearly describe the situation as it unfolded is a sign of such a clear mind and enables teaching.
Yes, people do think, write and talk like that.
"that's when the feeling of dread started to wash over me". The most annoying voice and narration of anything ever. I skipped everytime he spoke here.