Backyard fences, decks and landscaping helped spread the wildfire flames through suburban neighborhoods and shopping malls baked by global warming.
By Bob Berwyn, Inside Climate News
When he saw smoke in the air around Boulder, Colorado on Dec. 30, Tom Veblen walked up a trail near his home to check it out. Veblen, a professor emeritus of geography at the University of Colorado Boulder who has been studying forest ecology, wildfires and climate change since the mid-1970s, said he could see that the Marshall Fire, on the southern edge of the city, was already jumping over distances of several hundred yards.
The winds were so strong that he said he struggled to open his car door, and to stay on his feet in the powerful gusts. Wooden fences separating yards in the suburbs sprawling in the distance looked like burning fuses, as winds gusting faster than 100 mph pushed the flames along them to ignite decks, roofs and residential landscaping. The firestorm would eventually engulf shopping malls and a hotel.
As a resident of a neighborhood he had previously believed to be a safe distance from the fire-prone forests, Veblen felt a sudden and unfamiliar sense of vulnerability.
“Sure, I knew that Chinook winds could drive winter grassland fires to spread very rapidly, but in the past we just did not have all the driving factors align so perfectly—wet spring producing abundant grass fuels, one of the warmest and driest June-Decembers on record and then an ignition at the base of the mountains.” Local topography also contributed to the intensity, with a canyon opposite the fire acting like a nozzle, blasting winds from the peaks onto the flames and pushing the fire east into suburban neighborhoods.
Recent Posts
Israel Is Destroying Northern Gaza’s Last Remaining Hospital
December 28, 2024
Take Action NowThe attack on Kamal Adwan marks the culmination of a three-month campaign of ethnic cleansing and destruction in the northern…
Now It Can Be Told… After All The Harm Has Been Done
December 26, 2024
Take Action Now Written by a former Kabul bureau chief for the Times, the article appeared under a headline saying that “U.S.-backed militias” in…
The U.S. Should Restore Normal Relations With Cuba
December 23, 2024
Take Action NowPresident Trump’s decision to roll back our opening with Cuba was disastrous. As he takes office again, he should reconsider.……
Democrats Have Boxed Themselves In As A War Party
December 23, 2024
Take Action NowDuring Biden’s term, Democrats have become the party promoting war and overseas conflict.By Norman Solomon,…