wildfires

During last year's fires, I saw many people in Fort Collins wearing masks and bandanas around their mouths to try and protect their lungs from smoke, but wearing things like that will not actually protect your lungs from wildfire smoke. You would actually need a particulate respirator.

If you have a view of the foothills, you've seen the massive amount of smoke coming from the area near Horsetooth Reservoir, just west of Fort Collins.Well, if you live near the foothills, you might want to avoid this beautiful weather and stay inside. Larimer County has issued this health advisory due to smoke from the Soldier Canyon Fire.

This afternoon I’ve already gotten a couple calls about people that can see smoke west of Loveland this afternoon. And now the Loveland Reporter-Herald says firefighters are indeed trying to get to an apparent wildfire burning north of Highway 34 near the Big Thompson River.

Everyone is on edge after we had one of the worst wildfire seasons of all time last year, myself included. Here in the studio, I've had a lot of listeners call saying they're seeing smoke close to their homes, wondering if another catastrophic fire is brewing. Sometimes the fear in their voices is hard to bear. Usually, the smoke is from a prescribed burn that people aren't aware of; so Larimer County is taking steps to alleviate some of that anxiety.

In a little ray of hope, the High Park Fire has a 5% containment. The High Park Fire is at an estimated 43,433 acres and fire fighters are working hard at keeping it from growing. 89 Pre-evacuation alerts were just sent to residents in the area south of County Road 74E, south and east of McNay Hill. This is not an evacuation, simply a pre alert to those residents on Hewlett Gulch Road, Deer Meadow