Colorado Fires

[Rail Freak]

Has anyone been on the Zephyr lately. Just wondering about the fires???

Thanx

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I'm thinking, from what little I researched today, the fires in Utah may be closer to the tracks than the ones in Colorado.

 

[johnny.menhennet]

Has anyone been on the Zephyr lately. Just wondering about the fires???

Thanx

The Zephyr is not affected in any way by either the Fort Collins fire or the Colorado Springs fire. One near Boulder could have been an issue, but it is much more contained. If you are traveling on it, then you should not have anything to worry about.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Here's a topography map with the wild fires and you can search for places on it.

esri wildfire map

 

[Rail Freak]

Thanx,

In a month, I'm taking my brother on his 1st Amtrak trip (SEA-DEN) . Like always, I'm starting to get those Amtrak Jitters!!!! :lol:

 

[johnny.menhennet]

It is a scary thought though. I remember both 2007 and 2003 very well. In 2007, the Witch Creek Fire that demolished over 1,000 homes came within three miles of both my houses, demolishing many homes in value up to $30 million in Rancho Santa Fe. 2003 with the Cedar Fire was about 9 miles away at the closest. Both fires started during our Halloween Carnival at the elementary school. On the 21st or like the 3rdth Sunday in October each year, our elementary school Solana Vista holds a family Halloween Carnival, which is a really fun thing to do, and all of the kids get involved and all that stuff. But on that weekend, both fires started, 4 years apart. In 2007, we remember at about 2PM, we could see a huge wall of smoke in the distance. At 3, it was close and all of the adults were scrambling to get everything packed up. By 3:30, the smoke was upon us. At my dad's house just 15 minutes later, we couldn't see the tree in our backyard. Luckily my grandma from San Jose who was with us was able to fly out the next morning. The airport was still open. It was crazy having a huge wall at least a mile high just rushing you and coming straight at you. This is San Diego's version of a haboob.

We stayed in our house Sunday night, but on Monday we literally grabbed the last hotel room available in all of Downtown San Diego. I think it was the last time that my parents slept in the same bed, almost 3 years after they separated. We sure broke the no pets rule, bringing two young kittens and 3 small guinea pigs as well as a fish I had won the day before at the carnival. The hotel didn't care though. The smoke had covered all of the county except downtown, so it was nice-ish. There were almost 1 million people just in San Diego under evacuation orders. But where were they supposed to go? The Del Mar Fairgrounds filled up in the first hour they were open that Sunday, and nobody could evacuate. The Rice Fire burned across the 15, closing it. The Horno Fire burned right alongsie the 5 in Pendleton, closing it. The 8 was also obscured. They were directing all people to El Toro all the way up in Orange County, but the Santiago Fire was filling that up. It was a mess. After it was all done, literally entire streets and neighborhoods were just wiped out. Notable streets were Zoumaque in RSF and entire blocks in Rancho Bernardo were reduced to rubble. Here are some more pictures of what we had to deal with.

Mt. Miguel, the mountain that has most of our broadcasting towers

fire advancing on Scripps Ranch

So I know where these people in Colorado are coming from, and my heart goes out to them. These fires are uncontrollable, and are very devastating when in an urban setting. All of us in Southern California can attest to that. I have family in Fort Collins only 3 miles from the easternmost part of the Fort Collins Fire, and other family 6 miles from that same spot as well. I pray that these fires will be contained soon to prevent more damage.

 

[johnny.menhennet]

Here are the last two pictures that are really striking and moving to me, just crazy what went down.

There is some message I just keep getting when I try to actually post the pictures that it won't allow this image extension on the board, so here's the link

Link

Evacuations

My link

Downtown San Diego, with the Harris Fire making a beautiful backdrop (not)

 

[NorthCoastHiawatha]

Ill be on the Southwest Chief in a about month, I wonder if the train will be effected assuming the fires are still burning by the then.

 

[johnny.menhennet]

Ill be on the Southwest Chief in a about month, I wonder if the train will be effected assuming the fires are still burning by the then.

It hasn't been affected thus far. The mega-fire burning in the western part of the state has not threatened civilization at all, so it is kind of being allowed to slowly burn itself out, and the firefighters are focusing more on the ones in Colorado and Utah that are closer to homes. Even if it is still smoldering in a month, there should not be a risk to the SWC.

 

[SubwayNut]

I was in Colorado Springs until Sunday, (where I went to college) for a wedding and saw the smoke way off in the distance. Got really, really bad yesterday, have friends who have been evacuated.

Neither the C Springs fire or the Fort Collins fire will effect the zephyr. There both about 70 miles south and north. If the boulder fire was big it might.

 

[trainwary]

There is a fire near Grand Junction that has I-70 shut down. Does the Zephyr follow 70 across the western part of Colorado? We are supposed to head out Monday from Denver to Reno, and I am worrying about my typical Amtrak luck.

 

[CityofPortland]

On train 5 now went through area 3 hours ago. Could see flames on hillside east of Grand Jct.

Jim from PDX

 

[jebr]

There is a fire near Grand Junction that has I-70 shut down. Does the Zephyr follow 70 across the western part of Colorado? We are supposed to head out Monday from Denver to Reno, and I am worrying about my typical Amtrak luck.

It looks like it does follow I-70. Amtrak hasn't posted an alert about it yet, and today's #5 (CZ westbound) made it through before they closed I-70. The next train that's scheduled to head through there would be the #6 (CZ eastbound) at around 10:30 AM local time. Will be interesting to see, especially since I board the Zephyr tomorrow (and go through there on Saturday!)

 

[SubwayNut]

Wow, Didn't know about that fire. That might cause issues, the rail line I believe is following the Colorado River there along the highway.

 

[jebr]

Wow, Didn't know about that fire. That might cause issues, the rail line I believe is following the Colorado River there along the highway.

If the UP line through there is closed, what would most likely happen? A bustitution around the affected part (which seems fairly difficult, considering that commercial trucks can't use the detour, and a bus may fall into that, nevermind the lack of equipment on the other side)? Taking the Overland route (and accommodating passengers boarding/departing at the stations between DEN and SLC as best they can?) Something else entirely?

I'm just curious, because this could become an interesting first "true" LD train ride (can you really count a ride on the EB between SCD and MSP?)

 

[oregon pioneer]

Here's another fire location viewer. You can zoom way in to see roads and houses, overlaid by the current fire perimeter. If you already know the name of the fire, you can also use the "Jump to fire" drop-down menu in the upper right to get there quickly:

http://www.geomac.gov/viewer/viewer.shtml

Picked this one up when I used to work for the Forest Service.

 

[Trainmans daughter]

It is a scary thought though. I remember both 2007 and 2003 very well. In 2007, the Witch Creek Fire that demolished over 1,000 homes came within three miles of both my houses, demolishing many homes in value up to $30 million in Rancho Santa Fe. 2003 with the Cedar Fire was about 9 miles away at the closest. Both fires started during our Halloween Carnival at the elementary school. On the 21st or like the 3rdth Sunday in October each year, our elementary school Solana Vista holds a family Halloween Carnival, which is a really fun thing to do, and all of the kids get involved and all that stuff. But on that weekend, both fires started, 4 years apart. In 2007, we remember at about 2PM, we could see a huge wall of smoke in the distance. At 3, it was close and all of the adults were scrambling to get everything packed up. By 3:30, the smoke was upon us. At my dad's house just 15 minutes later, we couldn't see the tree in our backyard. Luckily my grandma from San Jose who was with us was able to fly out the next morning. The airport was still open. It was crazy having a huge wall at least a mile high just rushing you and coming straight at you. This is San Diego's version of a haboob.

We stayed in our house Sunday night, but on Monday we literally grabbed the last hotel room available in all of Downtown San Diego. I think it was the last time that my parents slept in the same bed, almost 3 years after they separated. We sure broke the no pets rule, bringing two young kittens and 3 small guinea pigs as well as a fish I had won the day before at the carnival. The hotel didn't care though. The smoke had covered all of the county except downtown, so it was nice-ish. There were almost 1 million people just in San Diego under evacuation orders. But where were they supposed to go? The Del Mar Fairgrounds filled up in the first hour they were open that Sunday, and nobody could evacuate. The Rice Fire burned across the 15, closing it. The Horno Fire burned right alongsie the 5 in Pendleton, closing it. The 8 was also obscured. They were directing all people to El Toro all the way up in Orange County, but the Santiago Fire was filling that up. It was a mess. After it was all done, literally entire streets and neighborhoods were just wiped out. Notable streets were Zoumaque in RSF and entire blocks in Rancho Bernardo were reduced to rubble. Here are some more pictures of what we had to deal with.

Mt. Miguel, the mountain that has most of our broadcasting towers

fire advancing on Scripps Ranch

So I know where these people in Colorado are coming from, and my heart goes out to them. These fires are uncontrollable, and are very devastating when in an urban setting. All of us in Southern California can attest to that. I have family in Fort Collins only 3 miles from the easternmost part of the Fort Collins Fire, and other family 6 miles from that same spot as well. I pray that these fires will be contained soon to prevent more damage.

Wow! Thank you for posting these photos and your incredible description of the SoCal fires. You are a great writer, Johnny.

 

[Jheilman43402]

On the cz right now maybe 2 hours out of Denver no mention of it yet

 

[Jheilman43402]

Just announced detour to Wyoming not going to salt lake city. Bussing to salt lake

 

[jebr]

Just announced detour to Wyoming not going to salt lake city. Bussing to salt lake

They're not going to Salt Lake? That seems odd if they're using the Overland route as a detour. My understanding is that route goes through SLC. When they do a scheduled detour, the last stop is SLC (and then on to DEN).

 

[jebr]

One lane in each direction is now open in the area of I-70 that was previously closed. It looks like there may be more closures today, though, so it makes sense why Amtrak wants to play it safe.

http://www.inciweb.org/incident/2951/

 

[Jheilman43402]

Sorry bussing from Denver to center of Colorado then also bussing from salt lake back to center of Colorado. Announcement was not too clear. Our SCA showed me a map of where we are going and how it works it did not effect me just not as pretty going through Wyoming. I am on to SFC

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Sorry bussing from Denver to center of Colorado then also bussing from salt lake back to center of Colorado. Announcement was not too clear. Our SLA showed me a map of where we are going and how it works it did not effect me just not as pretty going through Wyoming. I am on to SFC

Just curious, are they backtracking you to DEN then onto the detour, or were they at a point where there's another track that can take them to the detour?

 

[Jheilman43402]

We are in Denver now. They are taking The next 6 stops and splitting them in half bussing the next 3 from Denver in then the next 3 they are bussing backwards from Slc to their destination. A little confusing but only thing I am upset about is missing moffat tunnel. they are taking us into Wyoming to avoid the fires. I am not sure of the route we will take

 

[jebr]

We are in Denver now. They are taking The next 6 stops and splitting them in half bussing the next 3 from Denver in then the next 3 they are bussing backwards from Slc to their destination. A little confusing but only thing I am upset about is missing moffat tunnel. they are taking us into Wyoming to avoid the fires. I am not sure of the route we will take

Thanks for keeping us informed about this. Amtrak's website is frustrating in that it rarely seems to post these alerts for LD trains. Even now there's no information on this disruption on the website.