Lake Christine Fire

I was driving my Tesla Limo for the last ride of the day July 3rd. My riders were two pilots from the private Airport in Aspen and they were booked into the Element Hotel at Willits just the other side of highway 82 from Basalt. As we came out of Snowmass Canyon directly in front of us was a column of smoke... and as we got closer flames... which I estimated at 90' high. My first comment "This isn't good." My second comment "If they don't get a big slurry bomber on that right now......" Having seen the effect of a slurry bomber on the 2002 Panorama Fire by my place in Missouri Heights I knew just how effective they could be... and that's what I wanted to see... a big beautiful slurry bomber out of the Grand Junction airport ..."

 Photo coming into Basalt July 3, 2018

At the Element Hotel, as ash was falling on the Tesla, the pilots decided they might want to change their hotel plans. I drove them to the Westin in Snowmass and by the time I turned the car back towards Missouri Heights an hour later the beast had taken hold....

Photo at the Basalt stoplight.

No Slurry bombers... but some helicopters with "bambi buckets" which carry about 40 gallons dipped out of the Roaring Fork River and the Kodiak Ski Lake behind the Tree Farm at Willits.

 

See that tiny dot? That's a helicopter and below it is a water bucket. 

 That night I didn't get much sleep as I watched the red glow get bigger from my deck....

The week before driving into El Jebel looked like this:

 On the morning of July 4th it was a different story:

July 4 is a big day for driving and I also like our little parade in Aspen. I packed up the dogs- took them to doggie daycare and spent a little time at the parade.

I kept looking at my phone - twitter and FB- looking for fire updates.  I was pretty much glued to the Lake Christine Google Fire Map.

The photos were not looking good and it certainly wasn't getting any smaller.  #lakechristinefire

I left the parade- picked up the dogs- when back down valley to get my old BMW "bugout" car which I keep packed and ready to go in case of emergency.  The fire was still in back of Basalt but hadn't jumped the ridge to El Jebel or started up Basalt Mountain. It looked like it might be going in the opposite direction up the Frying Pan....

 

View from my deck July 4 afternoon. 

I checked my roof sprinklers

 

Kept looking at the fire....

and the water in the cistern.

 

Watched the fire....

 Tried to sleep.....

 

Things seemed ok "ish" until the early hours of July 5.

You've probably seen the photos- the fire jumped the ridge into El Jebel and ate the side of a mountain in about 60 seconds flat... that's when the evacuation orders came for Missouri Heights. The truly spectacular photos are of the hill behind Whole Foods. Here's the link to Wildfire Today...

 As I drove past El Jebel with the dogs in the "bug out bimmer" I saw thousands of spot fires all over the hill.  Every time you thought you were out of the fire zone there would be another single spiraling tower of flame shooting out from the middle of the mountain side as if there were pipes down to hell playing organ music for the devil. One small burst of wind had almost eaten El Jebel and another burst of wind could eat whatever it wanted... whenever it wanted....

"Snow" is what I thought.... "It's gonna take snow to stop this monster."

Later that morning with my friend Karen's help I went back to the Missouri Heights place to rescue the Tesla (I can only drive one car at a time... Elon should work on that autopilot thing...)

We passed hills smoking with spot fires.

and checkpoint after checkpoint

and rescued the Tesla... (yeah!)

 

and I started doing a lot of round trips to Denver because the commercial flights in and out of Aspen were limited due to wildfire restrictions.... 

 

Coming home from another DIA trip the rain at the top of Independence was welcome but the glow from the Lake Christine Fire told me another story.  

I was able to return home for brief visits Saturday, Sunday and Monday... but as always keeping a wary eye out to Basalt Mountain and watching the leaves on the trees for any breath of wind....

I ate breakfast at Home Team at the Inn at Aspen a couple of days ago. They've just installed a new Tesla supercharging station and with all the trips to Denver I'm trying to keep the batteries topped up... My waiter and I shared evacuation stories and then he showed me a picture of his home in El Jebel. His home had been saved... 10 feet from his front door the ground was black.... that's how close it came to burning his home. Gracias a Dios.

I'm back at the Ranch and the Lake Christine Fire still burns on Basalt Mountain. There are 30 homes still under mandatory evacuation and we all wait and watch... praying for rain ... and hoping for no wind .... and no lightning.... 

The Fire map is steady at about 6000 acres but we know at any moment it could turn..... for photos and videos of the Lake Christine Fire click on The Aspen Times slideshow (with some spectacular photos from Peter McBride- one of our many local NatGeo photographers) and 9 News video 9 News has a lot of video you just have to get past the ads....

It ain't over till it's over. Basalt Mountain is still smoking.

 

Thanks to all my friends who have helped me with support- in words and deed.

Thanks to the firefighters, hot shots, helicopter and bomber pilots who worked so hard and are still working to keep lives and property safe from the flames.

Thanks to this little tight knit community... we are all in this together... and if you ever doubt that look back on the 4th of July 2018.

How you can help:

Lake Christine Fire: Wildland Firefighter Foundation from Outside Adventure Media on Vimeo.

Go Fund Me for those who lost homes:

Bill and Andee

Cleve

Levi

Martinez

IRL, letter to the editor

What's the value of IRL? For those of you who are not internet addicted that stands for "in real life".

At the heart of it that is the question before two of our local Roaring Fork Valley Governments. Both Aspen and Basalt have citizens who are asking for a Community Center. There is a coalition in Aspen proposing an Armory Building renaissance back to it's Community Hall roots and there is a groundswell bubbling up in Basalt calling for a Community Center Clearshot to the river.

The economics for the Aspen proposal are irrefutable. The Armory Community Center is the clear winner but Aspen being Aspen there will surely be roadblocks to common sense. The economics for Basalt are less clear. The tantalizing prospect of a cash in hand condo sales tax can easily blind even the most far sighted civil servant.  I never thought I'd hear the words "dog park" used in a derogatory manner in the progressive halls of the Basalt City Hall but hey, as mom used to say, "All you have to do is live long enough…."

But let's think about this a bit longer and look at what these two proposals have in common and what each of these groups is trying to tell their representatives.

"Socialization" is such a soulless word for such a soulful activity; but that's what is at the heart of both these proposals. The community is asking for a place to commune. The neighborhood wants a place to be neighborly. We want to heal our hearts with shared laughter. That in itself is priceless but this it not  all "touchy feely" there is also a huge potential for  economic benefit (the boring explanation).

 

Yampa River Botanic Park

One of my favorite TV shows was "Connections" which showed that serendipity has driven more innovation and success than just about anything else.

 

Connections

 A similar  theme can be found in Walter Isaacson's "Innovators" which diagrams connections between teams of scientists. Yo Yo Ma gave the clarion cry for "STEAM" not  "STEM" at Aspen Ideas.

Collaboration, interconnectedness, diversity these are the touchstones of a healthy community and a vibrant economy. You want to revitalize a community? Let the artists frolic and see who comes to watch….Feynman played the bongos after all...

 

The Feynman Physics lectures

Sometimes we think that Aspen is only a ski town or Basalt is only for fly fishermen but look at our locals and you will find artists, scientists, engineers, farmers, cowgirl poets and philosopher kings. Six degrees of separation? Ha! Not here.  Not in the Roaring Fork Valley.  We just don't connect with each other much.

We just don't get the opportunity to flow gently into conversation and let the extraordinary juxtaposition of thought and possibility  merge into something concrete, into something you can touch, into  reality.

In both cases- the Armory and the River Park- these citizen driven initiatives are asking for a place where we- the people who live here- can meet and socialize in real life. The time for compartmentalization and cubicles is over.

Words of Wilderness- Peter McBride and Vital Films

People don't move here for the condos.

The imitation of failure, letter to the editor, updated

This is in response to the plans for development of the former Pan and Fork trailer park site.

Dear Basalt, when one culture imitates another it imitates the worst parts of that culture.

Condos???? You want Condos instead of a clear shot at the river and grass under your feet? Don't you already have a crystal clear example of what 50 year old Condo development looks like? Is that the future you want? Have. You.  Lost. Your. Mind??????

Aspen Journalism Condo/Hotel study

If I voted in Basalt I'd push for a Performing Arts Center. 

Stratford upon Avon 

(take a look at a plan of Stratford- it's analogous to Basalt in many ways)

If I voted in Basalt I'd be canvasing local architects (Harry Teague comes glaringly to mind) who understand both the topography and the community (I mean did anybody even ask???).

Center for the Arts Jackson Wyoming, Harry Teague architect

If I voted in Basalt I wouldn't rest until the wetlands which were torn out with the trailers were replaced.

Rock Bottom Ranch wetlands

If I voted in Basalt I'd be thinking of all sorts of ways that those folks in their oh so urbane loft apartments at Willits could spend a quaint evening sipping chilled cucumber water on the green by the river- because there sure ain't nothin' happening at Willits when the stores shut their doors.

Come on Basalt don't do an Aspen- do better than Aspen- make a destination community not a second home community.

Simon Pearce Mill Restaurant and Glass factory

Updated: here is a perfect example of how a museum can revitalize a community and become a destination point: Crystal Bridges which now hosts 600,000+ visitors a year