Last year’s October wildfires remembered
A year ago, October, Lyons residents were sitting and anxiously awaiting news of evacuation orders. Some got their Calwood Fire pre-evacuation orders in the south suburbs of Lyons, and some of those in Larimer County mountain homes near the Troublesome Fire, especially along Highway 36, got their evacuation orders (when Estes Park got theirs).
Fortunately, some cold weather and snow helped fire containment efforts. The Estes Park Trail Gazette published articles this summer, looking back, and stating how both Estes Park and Grand Lake, and other small towns in the area, were just a day away from being destroyed.
As editor of the Lyons Recorder, during the week that the Calwood fire kept us on edge, I gathered information from the four local agencies (fire departments, police, forest) and put them all in one place — in the October 16th article — every morning and every late afternoon was a fresh update. (When I do this kind of thing, I call it “one-stop reading” – to save readers time in searching out multiple web sites).
We had articles on:
==November 2 – Larimer County Sheriff closing report “The day we’d come to fear we’d never see. With 85% containment of the Cameron Peak Fire and promising conditions on the portion of the East Troublesome Fire east of the divide – later today, Larimer County will be lifting all remaining evacuation zones!
==October 29 – thank you letters from the Lyons and Pinewood Springs Fire Departments
==October 28 – list and photos of: Thank you’s to all the people who worked or volunteered …Thanks to some outstanding individuals… Short wrap up of the station as of Oct 29
==October 16 “Emergency! Evacuation MAPS; KIT LIST: Fire Updates & more.” Twice daily updates of current situation, during the week.
==October 14 – Photos of the Cameron Fire from across the Front Range; plus links to Emergency Preparedness
(You can insert “fire” in the search box to find various articles over the past year)
Calwood Fire, October 2020
Calwood fire smoke – as seen from Hwy 36 & Nelson Road (by TJimenez) 
Calwood firefighter on the ground, amidst the smoke October 19 (courtesy of Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team Black)
Calwood Fire – Olde Stage Road, south of Lyons (by PVanderbilt) 
Calwood fire – packing up after snowfall, October 25
When the Calwood Fire broke loose, we were in our mountain cabin watching it all unfold in horror. We had no idea if we could get home with all the activity and my brother even got a pre evacuation notice in Niwot. We drove down the following day and began to pack up our valuable stuff into our vehicles. My brother was no longer in danger so we delivered packed vehicles to his house. The following day, high winds were again predicted so Boulder County announced evacuation for all county residents south of town. In reality, our place is very close to town and entire town would have likely burned if our house did. In any case, we evacuated to my brothers house in Niwot. It was a little deju vu as we spent 5 months there after the flood rebuilding our first floor. Thankfully the evacuation only lasted one day and the fire fighters kept the fire from jumping over the South St Vrain canyon and got it under control. We felt fortunate compared to all the folks who lost their homes to the fires in 2020.
………….by Larry Quinn, Lyons resident, Old St. Vrain Road
Worst, biggest fires in Colorado History
1
Cameron Peak=208,913=2020
2
East Troublesome=193,812=2020
3
Pine Gulch=139,007=2020
4
Hayman=137,760=2002
5
Spring Creek=108,045=2018
