Yesterday I took my ATV out to view the damage caused by the Pine Ridge Fire, which at one point threatened to evacuate us from our place in DeBeque. While fire is a natural component of forests and woodlands it is hard to look at (and smell) the damage.
Burned hillside
The closest point of the fire to DeBeque, by a twisty road, was about 7.25 miles. As the crow flies it was closer than that.
One predicted side effect, erosion, has already started to take place. We did get a light rain in the area, and this mud flow across the access road shows what a little water, with no vegetation to trap it, will be doing to hillsides throughout the area.
Mud flow across access road
Good thing my ATV has 4-wheel drive. Some of this mud is extremely gooey.
Here and there you can still see traces of the red fire retardant dropped by the slurry bombers.
Red fire retardant paints some rocks
I had mentioned in previous posts that one concern was loss of electrical power to the town. As you can see from the next couple photos the power lines were damaged. Hopefully the utility company has re-routed power from these lines or we are still at risk until repairs can be made!
Burned-off power pole
The fire came right down to the railroad tracks that border I-70. Here is another shot of the damage.
Damaged cross-beam
As bad as the fire was, there are still some bright spots. Very near where the power lines were damaged this patch of small sunflowers is making a bright yellow statement.
Sunflowers survived and brighten up the landscape
For the time being all local fires are out. The recent rains have helped some but open fires of any type are still banned as the underlying dryness is still very much there. Our tension has reduced a great deal.
Over 13,000 acres burned, but here and these a tree or two survived. Some have burned lower limbs but their tops are intact. Maybe these damaged trees can make a comeback and serve as the source to re-seed the area. The part that gets me is how completely the ground cover burned. Hard to believe this area can return to it’s pre-fire condition in our lifetime but we will be keeping an eye on it over the next few years to see what progress Mother Nature can make.
The burned area is generally south of where I’ve seen the wild horses so I think they came out OK. i did see a few rabbits and a salamander or two. It is hard to imagine how they survive events like this!
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
Interesting pics, Jer. I’ve no idea what these landscapes looked like previously, but the fire damage is obvious. It’s odd, as you say, how some trees are thoroughly charred, yet others still have tops. And, others where a burned tree is close to a tree with green leaves.
It’s really a pretty area – I like the rock formations. By groundcover I am thinking that all that is brown on the ground used to be green? Weeds, flowers, and “meadowy looking”? You’ll have to do some before/after shots!
Hopefully the elec was re-routed and you’ll have no trouble. Great post – reallly interesting to see and good you have the ATV for times such as these 🙂
I assume it will take power utility workers some time — too many ongoing fires, many in populated areas. Hopefully (they) have sufficient re-routing capacity, else a good lightening strike will take out power for a vast area.
Given adequate snow/rainfall, I’d bet the mesa will be green again by next spring. Pinions are “tough” (or they wouldn’t live for 300-400 years) — can only hope heat wasn’t that intense with many though, by your photo, it appears damage is severe…
very devastating i’m sure for you to look at
but…part of the cycle out there i suppose
good fresh start
it’s amazing when we went to yellowstone how quickly things are returning
i wonder how bad that red fire stuff they drop is for the environment