HAYMAN WILDFIRESaturday, June 8, 2002

DEDICATED TO:

                                                        

DANIEL RAMA

RETHA SHIRLEY

JAKE MARTINDALE

ZACHARY ZIGICH

BARTHOLOMEW BAILEY

Saturday, June 8, 2002

At 4:00 p.m. MST

Fire was reported near Lake George.

Sunday, June 9, 2002The fire has been named “The Hayman Fire” for the “Hayman” site near Tappan Gulch at the fire’s origin.

The fire continues to grow. Smoke and ash can be seen throughout the entire metro area. Smoke has been reported as far as the Wyoming and Nebraska borders.

The fire moved 19 linear miles (a wildland fire fighting record) eating up 25,000 acres.

                                                                                                                                                       

Monday, June 10, 2002The Hayman Fire grew overnight to at least 30,000 acres. The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has completed evacuations of affected areas of the Pike National Forest through Rampart Range Road. The Great Basin Type 1 Team has assumed operational management of this fire. A second Type 1 team will be arriving this morning and stationed in Castle Rock at the Douglas County Event Center to focus on the northern end of the Hayman fire. 273 Firefighters are on scene.

The Hayman fire has burned 77,000 acres. 400 Firefighters on scene.

Tuesday, June 11, 2002The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office is encouraging residents of all urban-wildland interface areas between Perry Park (on the south) and Roxborough Village (on the north) to include Sedalia, Indian Creek Ranch, Oak Valley and surrounding areas to give serious consideration to the idea of leaving now.

The northern flank has burned to approximately Sugar Creek Road and Platte River Road (7 miles south-southwest of Roxborough Park). The eastern flank has burned to just west of Rampart Range Road (4 miles west of Perry Park). The north and east flanks, though still burning, were not moving.

The size of the fire has grown to 85,925 acres with 0% containment. 400 firefighters are on the scene.

Wednesday, June 12, 2002The fire remains dangerous and unpredictable. Higher humidity and lighter winds overnight Tuesday kept the fire from spreading significantly. A total of 5,430 people have been evacuated with 925 of those in Douglas County. The fire has been split into two zones, the “north” and “south”. Fire officials say the Hayman Fire could grow as big as 130,000 acres before it is contained. The would make it close to 200 square miles.

There are 546 personnel assigned to the fire including two Type 1 crews – the federal government’s top firefighters. Another 1,800 from as far away as California and South Dakota are on their way or have already arrived. They are sitting up a tent city at the Douglas County Fairgrounds.

President Bush called Governor Owens for an update today on the fires.

The Hayman Fire has prompted the federal government to close the Pike National Forest to all recreational activity as well as the Bureau of Land Management areas in five counties.

Thursday, June 13, 2002FEMA advances $20 million to Colorado pay for firefighting.

The Hayman Fire which started Saturday is so large the U.S. Forest Service estimates that it could take 70 to 90 days to get a fire line built. At least 22 structures have been lost.

Investigators say they believe the fire started in an old campfire ring .

Friday, June 14, 2002Afternoon thundershowers helped the growing army of firefighters hold their ground. Crews continued cutting lines on the north and south sides of the fire. Structure protection was carried out in the North Rainbow Falls subdivision in Douglas County.

Douglas County Sheriff’s Department escorted homeowners into an evacuated area Friday to check on their properties and animals.

The ground attack is intensifying. The force in Colorado grew from 900 Thursday to 1,800 this Friday afternoon. Fire officials are still waiting for 16 Type 1 Hot Shot crews. Firefighters from Idaho, Oregon, California and North Dakota have arrived to help fight the Hayman fire. The fire grew to 102,894 acres.

                                                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                       

Saturday, June 15, 2002Thunderstorms birthed by the Hayman Fire pelted Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas with rain and 1” hail. The state’s largest wildfire in history shoots smoky plumes of moist, hot air deep into the atmosphere at just the right height to spawn thunderstorms each afternoon. Weather forecasters are stating that the Hayman Fire is the biological parent for severe weather that’s occurring hundreds of miles away from Colorado.

                                                                                                                                                    

                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                                       

Sunday, June 16, 2002 Terry Barton, a 19-year veteran for the Forest Service, is arrested for starting the Hayman fire.

The fire didn’t grow on Saturday, but the estimated total cost of fighting the nearly 103,000-acre blaze more than doubled.

                                                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                

                                                                                                                      

Monday, June 17, 2002More evacuations were ordered today affecting 450 properties or about 1,000 people living on the fire’s edge south of West Creek in Douglas County and north of Woodland Park in Teller County.

The fire sprinted a quarter mile in four minutes during its run south and jumped a containment line at the southeastern edge, about 12 miles northwest of Woodland Park

So far, the fire has cost $11.4 million and blazed 102,895 acres with an estimated 2,200 personnel battling the fire.

                                                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

                                                                                                                        

Tuesday, June 18, 2002

The Hayman fire grew during a long, hot, windy dangerous day. The U.S. Forest Service scaled back its containment estimate from 47 percent to 40 percent. The conditions also forced the evacuations of more people in three counties.

The battle continues against the fire monster with 113,000 acres being consumed and 2,325 firefighters on scene.

                                                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                       

Wednesday, June 19, 2002A third Type 1 team arrived today to help coordinate firefighting efforts on the southeast side of the fire. This team will begin work on Friday out of the Woodland Park area.

The fire to this date has consumed 121,000 acres at a cost of $15 million dollars. There are currently 2,325 firefighters battling the blaze.

                                                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                                                       

Thursday, June 20, 2002A steady rain fell over the fire’s edges late last night, but the fast-moving storm missed the heart of the fire.

Hayman evacuations grew to just under 9,000 people as President Bush declared Colorado a major disaster area and cleared the way for personal and business grants for victims.

With 2,300 firefighters already fighting the Hayman fire, humdreds more will arrive in the third top-priority federal command, to be based between Manitou Springs and Woodland park on U.S. 24. The military is also adding two more high-tech C-130 retardant bombers from Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs.

Hayman’s volatile eastern edge is only 12 miles from Interstate 25, 8 miles west of Palmer Lake and 7 miles from Woodland Park.

                                                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                       

Friday, June 21, 2002Tragedy has struck again, four firefighters from the Greyback No. 80 Forestry Crew from La Grande, Oregon on their way to the Hayman Fire were killed in an automobile accident outside of Parachute, Colorado. Our prayers and thoughts go out in memory of Jacob Martindale; Daniel Rama; Retha Mae Shirley, and Zachary Zigich who perished in the accident.

The fire has now burned almost 137,000 acres. It is more than five times the size of the previous largest wildfire in Colorado. Cool, wet weather is helping out.

                                            

         

                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                       

Saturday, June 22, 2002Crews have dug 35 more miles of containment lines around the fire, which has devoured 114 houses since it started on June 8. The fire is 60% contained and not moving.

About 8,600 people remain under evacuation orders, although the weather allowed hundreds of people to return home in Jefferson and Douglas counties in the past two days.

                                                                                                                              

                                                                                                                              

Sunday, June 23, 2002The fire is now 67% percent contained as cooler weather has helped the 2,508 firefighters stand their ground. The fire is so large it sprawls across four counties and nearly into a fifth.

However, reoccupation of all communities except Deckers and Rainbow Falls has occurred.

Monday, June 24, 2002Firefighter Bartholomew Bailey, who was critically injured in the car accident last Friday, passes away.

Firefighters continue working the fire which remains at 137,000 acres. Officials have released more firefighters from the north end of the fire to battle other fires around the country. The cost of the fire has grown to $23,665.000.