‘Fascinating’ time-lapse shows firefighters corral wildfire on Colorado mountain. See it
Firefighters are giving the public a glimpse into how they battle flames from wildfires burning across Colorado’s Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, “fascinating” videos show.
West Metro Fire Rescue posted a time-lapse video of an interesting fire management strategy they used to control the Quarry Fire, which burned through more than 500 acres near highly populated neighborhoods about 15 miles southwest of Denver.
Using helicopters, firefighters strategically ignited sections of forest on a mountain ridge to control the flow of the flames using patch-size distributions — ping-pong sized spheres filled with chemical ignition substances, the department said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“A time lapse of the aerial ignitions on the #QuarryFire,” the department said in the Aug. 5 post. “You can see how the small areas of fire move down the slope. The helicopter dropping the small spheres (psds) started at the top of the ridge, making its way down systematically towards Deer Creek Canyon Road.”
The video shows small pillars of smoke billowing from the mountain and spreading down toward the base as helicopters fly overhead dropping the patch size distributions.
“We are now watching a storm front that is moving in towards the fire, but the strategy this afternoon is to have crews down on the road do hand ignitions along the roadbed,” the department said. “That fire should move upslope to meet the areas of fire that the helicopter laid down this morning.”
The strategy essentially uses the landscape against the wildfire to control the direction its flames will spread, according to a study on scale-dependent topographic controls on wildfire spread first published in Ecosphere in 2018.
“Fascinating,” someone said in the comments.
In addition to the aerial efforts, firefighters on the ground also used thousands of feet of fire hose to get water up mountain ridges and to areas where fire was burning or where they needed to “mop up,” the department said in an Aug. 6 X post.
Video shows firefighters bundling thousands of feet of hose in an area near where the fire started.
“There are very few hydrants in the neighborhoods around the fire, so firefighters used the water in the tank of their engine or brush truck, and also relied on tenders for resupply,” the department said. “Depending on the type of apparatus, an engine can hold anywhere from 1,000 to 150 gallons of water. A tender - usually around 2,000.”
The Quarry Fire was at 578 acres and 82% containment by the evening of Tuesday, Aug. 6, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department said on X. Mandatory evacuations were lifted earlier that day.
Officials explained residents would likely continue to see and smell smoke coming from the Quarry Fire, even after the fire is 100% contained.
“Some of tonight’s smoke is from the firing operations earlier today,” Metro West Fire Rescue said on X. “Over the next few days- and even weeks- the reason could be areas of still-smoldering fuels within the fire perimeter. Heavy, large diameter fuels and tree stumps can hold heat for quite some time.”
A photo shows the smoke still billowing up from the ignition points on the ridge.
“Know that this is typical fire behavior,” the department said. “And also know that firefighters with (Inter-Canyon Fire Protection District) (the fire district where the fire is burning) will be monitoring the behavior with regular patrols.”
This story was originally published August 7, 2024 at 3:29 PM with the headline "‘Fascinating’ time-lapse shows firefighters corral wildfire on Colorado mountain. See it."
