Weld Co. Brush Fire

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jimmnn

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Mtn View and Berthoud are working one alongside I-25, tried for a long time to get VHF patched to DTRS.

Jim<
 

jimmnn

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MORGAN COUNTY – A brush fire that broke out on Tuesday afternoon near Wiggins was another sign that it is fire danger season in Colorado.

Much of the state was under a moderate fire danger risk as of Wednesday evening. The U.S. Forest Service says some areas on the Western Slope are at a high risk of wildfires.

A brush fire started in Morgan County around 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday in the Orchard area northwest of Wiggins. The smoke from the flames could be seen from up to 30 miles away. Fire crews from Wiggins were working to control the outside edges of the blaze as it moved east toward a farm.

The smoke and haze could be felt on I-76 as far as Lochbuie.

Earlier in the day, fire crews quickly put out another brush fire near Alameda and Fairmount in Denver.

Also, a prescribed burn in Longmont on Wednesday got out of control when the winds kicked up and spread to about 20 acres. Crews were able to get it under control and were mopping up hotspots by late afternoon.

It is fires like these that prompted the National Weather Service to issue a red flag warning for the Interstate 25 corridor. It is one of only 10 areas in the country that is under that warning.

"Usually they're not too common," said Bernie Meier with the National Weather Service. "Sometimes we'll go a year with around three or four a year. And others are really busy – 20, 30, 40."

The red flags are raised by high winds, about 25 mph, and low humidity, less than 15 percent.

This recent weather was enough to spark two brush fires on Monday and several more last week.

"If we have dry, hot, windy weather, that's what's going to drive the fires," said Meier. "You got all the grass going into spring time and it hasn't greened up, yet, so you've got some really dry fuels."

The red flag warning is to encourage people to be careful.

"I wouldn't throw a cigarette butt out the window. It doesn't take much if it's really dry and windy," said Meier. "Just letting people know, be careful if you're out there."
 

NorthCOVideo

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rickak said:
Weld has been busy with brush fires all day.

They have been busy with brush fires for the last month and a half at least. Like I said in one of the other posts I think it is this time of year, like today it gets warm and farmers start to burn ditches and the wind kicks up and thats where the fun starts.

On another note were they trying to get Berthoud patched, because they're part of Larimer or what, don't see why they would need to do that, because Mtn View is running both Digital and VHF, as stupid as it sounds, they usually get first dispatched from Weld then secondly from Boulder county at which point they have been in route for a few mins.
 

jimmnn

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Morgan County was a fatal fire

MORGAN COUNTY – A farmer died on Wednesday afternoon after his tractor flipped over while he was trying to control a fire in an irrigation ditch north of Wiggins.

The fire was one of three that flared up in the same area around Wiggins and Fort Morgan on Wednesday. (Click here to read more about the fire danger in Colorado.)

The Morgan County Sheriff's Office says the man was driving his tractor along an irrigation ditch on his property around 2:30 p.m. when investigators think the soil shifted and the tractor flipped. The tractor crushed the farmer and he was killed.

Deputies believe the man was burning brush near the irrigation ditch and it got out of control. He called for the fire department before his tractor flipped.

About 100 acres were burned by the brush fire.

The farmer's name was not immediately released.
 
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