Big Elk Fire
CO-ARF-238
July 17-23, 2002

Fire Behavior and Weather Documentation

NOTE: This web site contains a subset of the contents of the original CD of this fire.

Contents

This CD contains documentation of fire behavior and weather for the Big Elk Fire (CO-ARF-238) for the period from July 17 through 23, 2002. It includes information compiled from the initial Larimer County Type 3 incident organization, the Type 2 Incident Management Team (IMT), and the Type 1 IMT.

The Big Elk fire started the afternoon of June 17 along County Road 47, northwest of Lyons, CO. The initial attack organization transitioned to a Type 3 organization the first afternoon, and additional resources were ordered. A Type 2 IMT (Joe Hartman, IC) assumed command of the incident on July 19, 2002, and the ICP was set up at the Lyons Middle School. A Type 1 IMT (Van Bateman, IC) assumed command of the fire on July 21, 2002..

Fire behavior was extreme, reflecting the extreme conditions in the area, and throughout Colorado. Initial spread was rapid, moving up a southeast slope in ponderosa pine with prolific torching and crowning. Spread the following days was by intense surface fire with torching, sustained crown fire runs in mixed conifer and lodgepole pine stands, and backing and flaking on steep slopes. On July 19, the fire made a 2 mile crown fire run. After July 19, fire activity began to moderate with increased RH and more favorable weather settling into the area. Further significant increases in acreage were due largely to burnout operations.

Organization of the CD

\Fire_Bx

\Documents

\IAP_Fcst Daily Fire Behavior Forecasts from day and night shifts.

\Misc Miscellaneous documents pertaining to fire behavior (trigger point development, etc.)

\Labels CD case insert and label graphics. When printing the CD case insert with Adobe Acrobat, if you un-check "shrink oversize pages to paper size" the final printout will be the right size for a standard jewel case.

\Maps Miscellaneous reference maps of the fire area (operational, perimeter progression, etc.)

\Weather Weather data, FireFamilyPlus files, and daily Fire Weather Forecasts for the incident. Note - forecasts begin on July 20 with the arrival of an Incident Meterologist.

Notes on file formats

- To view PDF files, you need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.0 or higher installed on your computer. If you do not already have it installed, you can install version 5 via the installation file in the \Software directory on this CD, ar505enu.exe. This version works under Windows 95, 98, NT4, and 2000. For computer systems other than PC/Windows, you can download the appropriate version of Adobe Acrobat Reader from Adobe's web site at www.adobe.com.

- JPG files (photos) can be viewed with most current graphics or image viewing software, as well as most current web browsers. If your software does not allow browsing of "thumbnail" images, there is a PDF file in each daily photo folder that provides contact sheets of the photos in that folder.

Acknowledgements

The individuals listed below contributed a lot of useful information, data, and photographs to this CD. Please give them appropriate credit:

Mike Babler Colorado State Forest Service Photos, misc. information
Brant Baun Pinewood Springs Fire Dept. Photos, video
John Carr Pinewood Springs Fire Dept. Photos
Kelly Close Poudre Fire Authority Photos, video, fire behavior, misc. info.
Kevin Dougherty National Weather Service Weather info.
Dave Farmer Colorado State Forest Service Background info.
Mike Foley U.S. Forest Service, ARNF Background info.
Don Griffith Larimer County Emergency Svcs. Background info.
Bob Irvine Colorado State Forest Service Fire behavior, background info.
Larry McCoy U.S. Forest Service Photos, video, fire behavior, background info.
Bob Root Poudre Fire Authority Background info.
Tony Simons Larimer County Planning Photos, misc. info.
Brad Smith Texas Forest Service Photos, fire behavior, background info.

Questions or comments concerning this CD should be directed to Kelly Close (FBAN), Poudre Fire Authority, Ft. Collins, CO via e-mail at kclose@fcgov.com.

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