Fire in the Neighborhood
In August of 2024 Cindy and I were both working from home, she at her desk upstairs and me in my office in the basement, when a single, loud clap of thunder shook the house. We both rushed to the back window to see if we could determine where it struck, but we didn't see anything obvious. At the same time, we talked about how dry it had been, and that there was no rain accompanying the bolt, so we were concerned it might have started a fire nearby. Sure enough, we soon heard sirens heading up nearby Clear Creek Canyon to begin the fight to contain what became the Goltra Fire, named after the family that owned some of the land where the fire began. Ultimately it was a small fire – just 205 acres when it was all said and done, but it was a bit too close to home.
A map of the fire showing its proximity to our home.
A 3D rendering.
The fire crawled along ridges and into gullies.
Fire on the ground and in the sky.
As darkness fell, fire crews got up close and personal with the flames.
The spokesman for the crews fighting the fire said they would monitor the fire overnight, but also said that fires tend to "lay down" after the sun goes down. This concerned us, because we knew from daily experience that the wind always seemed to flare up at night, and more so in the morning, as air spilled out of the canyon. I was concerned enough that I spent a good portion of the night on the couch, ready to grab our garden hose to hold at bay any flames that sparked from blowing embers as the fire burned just over the ridge. Sure enough, overnight the fire grew from a dozen or so acres to nearly 200.
Luckily they were quick to get air assets going and made pretty quick work of the fire. We walk by this small pond often on our trips downtown or up into the canyon, so it was cool to see the helicopter crews swoop in and draw water into their tanks.
Ready...aim...
FIRE!
The choppers made many sorties as they flew figure-8 patterns from the pond to the fire lines and back again.
What's funny is, just several months later enough vegetation grew back on the hillsides that you could barely even see there had been a fire up the canyon. Credit to the fire crews that prevented the Goltra Fire from jumping Highway-6 and igniting the heavily forested hillsides on the south side of the canyon.