Pictures from Tuesday post-containment fire

I got a call from neighbors that smoke was spotted coming from my land and 911 had been notified. I came up from Denver and was looking to understand what if anything was involved and ensure that the fire-department has all the access and resources needed. But when trying to find the crew which was dealing with some heat in bushes on the slope by my cabin (I think) I ran across a tree shooting a multi-foot flame out of it.

Interestingly calling 911 to try and locate where the crew was on my property, or to get ahold of them was not particularly possible with 911 dispatch being very confused to connect me with a crew on a fire scene from a citizen calling to report more fire. The Lyons Fire Protection District Station #1 took my call and said they would try to radio the crew -- but alas phone connectivity when not calling "911" is quite spotty so we disconnected rather soon.

Eventually I happened upon a crew who found the tree to be a higher priority than what they were dealing with and came to fell the tree before their time ran out. But alas after felling the tree -- thankfully preventing vertical flame spread -- they had to leave with the stump still smouldering above a great deal of slash and needles. So I spent about 4 hours slashing the downed tree and neighbors as well as moving slash out of the path of the stump should it roll down hill.

When leaving for the night we ran across a night crew doing an inspection who was unaware of the smoking stump. We brought out our lights and hiked to it with them. They advised the best way to lessen the heat would be to scrape the burning out of the stump (e.g. all the embers and such) and then if one had the ability they would cut the stump in two to allow for better water penetration. Alas department policy does not allow for sawing after dark nor did they have hoselines long enough to reach. We brought one of our IBC totes with the tractor and they thankfully had a garden hose that was long enough to then use and I do not have a policy for myself to not saw after dark and cut the top off the stump.

I'm super thankful the LFPD assisted me in getting the stump cool and out to allow for a much better and safer night's sleep for all. The next day I brought a few hundred feet of garden hose up for our IBC totes.

Don't mind the smoking root

Sawer felling flaming tree

Me slashing the felled tree after the fire crew went off duty

My evening making the stump safe with a new fire crew who showed up after-dark

Cutting the top off the "cat face"

Lifting the top off the "cat face" and moving it to a safe roll path if it reignites

FLIR Camera findings looking for latent heat

Here's a video looking around for hot spots
Around 40 seconds in see Dakota Ridge in the background; around the end see the pickup and electrical transformer. Notice the rocks hold the day's heat very well but are still only 40degF elevated.