Friday, June 14, 2013

CNN Stuff

My Brush with Fame!



CNN used some of my footage on the day (June 12 2013) after the Black Forest fire broke out. I happened to be in the right place at the right time, it's no more than that, but I executed my simple tasks and got the job done.

It's kind of random what happened. I had no idea there was a fire at all, but in the early evening I impulsively went out to get something I really didn't absolutely need to get and had only an average chance of success (the trip actually was a success) - and glanced to my left while going over a nearby hill and saw this mushroom cloud to the north. I was like, "Dude, they blew up Denver." I turned on the radio news and they mentioned Black Forest, but no details whatsoever - whether something had blown up, whether there was a forest fire, whatever. Obviously, given the smoke, something big was burning.

After my errand, I gathered up my gear and found a few vantage points nearby and pieced together what was going on. It was chaos, with roads closed and traffic jams. No doubt, if I were plugged in to the news and alerted, I would have gotten much better footage - but then, so would the pros, and CNN wouldn't have needed my shaky footage. In case you are wondering, no, they do not pay you for this kind of thing, you only get the satisfaction of knowing you did something useful that day, at least according to CNN.








Black Forest Wall of Flames June 13 2013.

Edge of the Black Forest Fire at Burgess Road



A brief video showing the advance of the Black Forest fire southward towards Burgess Road. This gives you an idea of how heavily forested the area is and how difficult it is to fight, with all the pine needles on the ground and trees that prevent the use of firefighting equipment. No passage north from this point, all roads closed.


Thursday, June 13, 2013

Black Forest Wildfire Photos June 13 2013

Photos of the Black Forest Wildfire Being Contained

THese photos taken on June 13, 2013 in the Burgess Road area of Black Forest, Colorado.







This was a staging area right next to the park where they were fighting the fire.














All streets north of Burgess were closed.

This is all burned out, fortunately the house appeared untouched.

Fires still smoldered in peoples' yards



Some of the remaining fires were doing more than smoldering. This one died down as I watched.




















































No, he wasn't pointing at me!


There wasn't much the fire engines could do in the heavily wooded areas



An example of a closed street north into the fire zone

Another example of a closed street