Aspen Times editorial board
There used to be a popular perception that our beautiful little neck of the woods was immune to the direct ravages of wildfire. That, of course, was a myth.
The Roaring Fork Valley has suffered more than its share of wildfires from the tragic South Canyon Fire that killed 14 wildland firefighters on Storm King Mountain on July 6, 1994, to the Coal Seam Fire that destroyed 43 structures in and around West Glenwood Springs in 2002 and the Lake Christine Fire that destroyed three homes and threatened countless others in the El Jebel area in 2018, to last summer’s Grizzly Creek Fire that created mayhem for travelers on Interstate 70 that persists to this day with flash floods in the burn scar. This year the Sylvan Lake Fire still burns close to home, just one major valley north of Fryingpan Valley.
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Steve Mundinger
At this moment, a handful of wildfires are already burning in Colorado at an early stage of summer 2021. It’s hard to overlook the haze in the air, and the dry, brittle look of the vegetation up and down the Roaring Fork Valley.
Welcome rains over the weekend and earlier this week helped to slow down the Sylvan Fire, which had previously threatened the upper Frying Pan Valley, and it appears firefighters have gained the edge there.
However, among the seven wildfires burning across the state’s Western Slope, only two have been fully contained and more than 20,000 acres have already been torched. So, while we should all celebrate the respite provided by the recent rains, it will still take a conscious, collective effort to ensure summer 2021 isn’t defined by smoke-filled skies and a nagging sense of agitation and dread.
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