'Climate change is not only real, but it's at our doorstep,' ex-mayor says of Colorado wildfires
At least 500 homes destroyed, tens of thousands forced to flee after flames tear through Boulder County area
Sam Weaver says he's never seen fire rage through the suburbs of Colorado as it did on Thursday.
Tens of thousands of people had to flee their homes on Thursday when wind-fueled wildfires spread throughout the Boulder County area, near the cities of Denver and Boulder. At least 500 homes were destroyed, but there were no reports of fire-related deaths as of Friday afternoon.
The blazes come following an extremely dry fall and amid a winter nearly devoid of snow.
Weaver is a former firefighter and the former mayor of Boulder. When the wildfires broke out, he drove to his brother's house on the outskirts of Boulder to rescue the animals there.
He spoke to As It Happens guest host Dave Seglins on Friday. Here is part of their conversation.
Sam, you've fought a lot of wildfires. But what was so alarming about this blaze as you watched it come in yesterday?
The wind made the flames move very quickly and somewhat unpredictably. So I have to say that the speed that the fire was moving was probably the most alarming part of the whole situation.
When a house would catch fire, it would go up in a matter of minutes.
Take us back to earlier in the day. When did you get a sense that maybe you were in trouble here?
I was having lunch with a friend in downtown Boulder and I didn't have my phone in front of me. And when I picked up the phone, I had 12 calls from my wife, which I knew meant that there was something going on.
When I got hold of her, she told me what was up … and because of where the fire was, east of Boulder, we were concerned with my brother's place.
Could you see the smoke at this point?
Oh yes. You could see the smoke from anywhere.
We headed over to my brother's place. We drove towards the smoke to get there.
I understand your brother had animals on his property.
Correct. There are alpacas, pigs, goats, sheep and chickens, as well as some cats and dogs in the house.
My brother's family was in Italy for Christmas vacation, and so he had a house sitter and he's got a caretaker that helps with the farm.
We joined with those two, my wife and I. And so the four of us started loading all the stuff in the house ... and then another person came from a local farm with a truck and a trailer. We got two alpacas in the trailer, goats and sheep into the back of the pickup truck, and then there's a … van that was there that we loaded pigs into.
We trundled off all those animals to Longmont and came back.
How close is the fire at this point?
When we left the first time with the animals, it was about 200 yards from the property.
When we came back about six o'clock in the evening, the flames were all around the neighbourhood and we could no longer get back to my brother's house because the police had closed the road down.
We watched from about a quarter mile away as the flame front moved through the entire neighbourhood. So at that point, I was still about 400 yards away from the flames, but the flames were all around my brother's house.
What has happened to his house now?
We went back about 5:30 this morning and we're able to get in just to have a quick look. My brother's house and barn were intact and OK, but there were burn marks in the grass all around.
The homes on either side of his were burned to the ground. So he and his family got quite lucky with the outcome. My understanding is that of the 48 homes in the neighbourhood, about 15 remain.
How are people doing there?
All the people in the neighbourhoods that are impacted are in shock, largely because they did not expect that this risk was something that could apply to them.
When I lived in the mountains, that was something that was ever-present. You always knew that fire was a danger and you had to pay close attention to it.
Have you ever seen a suburban fire like this?
I've never seen a Plains suburb have any kind of event like this happen, at least not not around here.
What are people doing — people who had to flee with virtually nothing?
They have found someplace to spend the night, whether with friends or at one of the four shelters in the area. They're waiting to be allowed back in.
The other threat at this moment is the temperatures dropping precipitously.
You've had wind and now fire. The temperatures are dropping. [There is] snow. I mean, what does all of this signal to you in terms of the extremes you're seeing in such a short period of time?
It's clear that climate change is not only real, but it's at our doorstep.
We've known this was coming and we've had to experience the progression of the floods. Like, we had a big flood in Boulder in 2013 in this whole region. And … the three biggest wildfires in Colorado history were in 2020.
Well, it's a terrible note to end the year on, and I'm sorry for the misfortune of the people in your community.
2021, like 2020, has been a pretty rough year locally. We had the King Soopers shooting in March.
So it has been a very rough year. And you know, it is deeply unfortunate to have another thing to regret about 2021.
Written by Sheena Goodyear with files from The Associated Press. Interview produced by Katie Geleff. Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.
