When the Dinosaur Fire broke out near NCAR on a scorching, dry mid-July day, one of the most important factors preventing it from spreading beyond five acres and into South Boulder neighborhoods was the absence of other fires burning at the same time.
Multiple fires burning at once is a major concern for Boulder County fire officials, as it strains firefighting resources and complicates their distribution. This scenario happened about two weeks after the Dinosaur Fire when two wildfires of greater toll broke out in Boulder County: the Stone Canyon Fire near Lyons and the Lake Shore Fire near Nederland. The Stone Canyon Fire destroyed five homes and killed one person before being contained days after consuming about 1,500 acres. The Lake Shore Fire razed one home but burned fewer than 10 acres.
Both fires benefited from rapid response and ample air support, but they also tested the limits of the county’s firefighting capabilities, county and city fire officials told Boulder Reporting Lab.
“Not only were we battling multiple fires in the county, but doing so during the height of fire season nationally,” said Seth McKinney, the fire management officer for the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office.
Fortunately, they also benefited from federal resources that had been reprioritized in the area.
McKinney explained that many national resources had been concentrated in the Pacific Northwest just before the Boulder County fires ignited due to heightened fire risk in that region. The swift and aggressive response to the Stone Canyon and Lake Shore fires was possible because some of those resources had already been moved into the area to fight the Alexander Mountain Fire, which started a few days earlier west of Loveland. The chair of the Larimer County Board of Commissioners declared the Alexander fire a disaster the morning after it started, granting additional state and federal resources. The fire would destroy more than two dozen homes before it was contained.
“We were able to reprioritize the aircraft that were working the Alexander Mountain Fire to hit the Stone Canyon Fire pretty fast and hard,” McKinney said. “If the Stone Canyon Fire had started first, we would have been hampered by the time it would have taken to spool up those aviation assets.”
The Stone Canyon Fire broke out on July 30, and the Lake Shore Fire ignited the following day, briefly hindering the Stone Canyon fight, McKinney said. Many firefighters and resources were moved to keep the new fire from becoming a catastrophe, which ignited on private land near Gross Reservoir.
Brian Oliver, the wildland fire chief for the City of Boulder, said his department had loaned engines to the Stone Canyon Fire with the understanding that those resources would need to be released if a new fire started.
“That is exactly what happened when the Lake Shore Fire broke out,” he said. “It’s a balancing act. We can’t hoard all our resources in case we have a fire. We need to help our neighbors out and they help us in turn.”
“So when the Lake Shore fire started, we got air support very quickly and it allowed us to get a handle on it before it turned into another large fire,” he added.
Fire districts across Boulder County have adopted a new response protocol that involves working together to aggressively attack any new fire immediately, because the best time to stop a fire from spreading is when it’s small. Oliver said this protocol kept the Lake Shore Fire to fewer than 10 acres, thanks in part to rapid air support that was available because federal resources had already been mobilized nearby.
At a press conference on the day of the Lake Shore Fire, Boulder County Sheriff Curtis Johnson said air support was able to “paint a pretty good line around the fire with retardant,” hobbling its spread.
McKinney noted that he didn’t think anything could have been done differently. “We will always be limited by the resources we have,” he said.
It’s not just the challenge of extinguishing fires that needs consideration — vegetation rejuvenation after the fact is also crucial.
Sometimes wildfires burn so intensely that the cooked soil develops a condition called hydrophobicity, where it repels water for several weeks to several years. This can require a hands-on recovery process for forest managers if the burn scar is in an area where erosion could threaten infrastructure or water sources.
According to Stefan Reinold, a resource manager for Boulder County Parks and Open Space, roughly 600 acres of county open space were affected by the fires. But because the land burned at a lower temperature, the root systems of native grasses survived. Thanks to recent moisture, some burned areas have already begun to sport new vegetation.
“We believe most of the area will rebound on its own with minimal management,” he said.
Some of the burn area was on private land, however, and those sections may have burned hot enough to require more intensive care.
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