It was a mild and sunny Saturday afternoon when Evan Grainger found himself on an unexpected rescue mission.
Grainger was sitting outside his home in south Boulder when he noticed a plume of smoke near the bottom of Bear Canyon. Grainger, a Boulder native, is used to wildfires sprouting up around his hometown, but recent events in the area have caused him to become more wary.
“When the last fire happened near NCAR maybe 10 years ago, there was more of a sense of calm about it because it wasn’t on the heels of another tragedy. After witnessing what happened in Louisville and Superior, you realize how quickly things can go bad if the winds change,” Grainger said.
After seeing the smoke, Grainger and his mother swiftly called around to friends who lived closer to the base of the Flatirons. After a close family friend didn’t pick up the phone, Grainger and his girlfriend drove over to the house to check on things. The pair was able to rescue the family’s dog — named Lorenzo — from the yard, where smoke was beginning to trickle down from the grass fire uphill.
“If the wind had shifted or picked up in any way, Lorenzo would have been in a tough spot,” Grainger admitted. “I’m grateful the weather cooperated, and we could get him safely.”
Residents of Boulder County have witnessed several major fire disasters in the past two years — most recently, the Marshall Fire, which destroyed more than 1,000 homes and burned more than 6,000 acres.
Though Saturday’s fire was smaller — burning about 190 acres with no damaged structures, deaths or injuries reported — the blaze is the second fire in a number of months that has occurred in what historically has been considered the “off-season” for wildfires. Wildfire season in Colorado typically runs from May to August; however, according to the Colorado Division of Fire and Prevention Control, Colorado now experiences large fires every month of the year.
Grainger was not the only Boulder resident to be on guard when it came to the NCAR Fire.
“The fact that the two most recent fires near Boulder have taken place in late December and late March, it makes me wonder — Whatap going to happen when July and August roll around?” asked Austin Reed, whose home fell under the evacuation order issued Saturday.
Like Grainger, Reed is also a Boulder native.
“For my whole life, there have always been fires close to home, maybe every two to five years, so often that my parents have a well developed system. It happens so often, that it became easy for us,” Reed said.
“In the past couple of years though, there have been so many massive or dangerous fires, it feels more real and visceral than ever before. Itap very clear to see that we’re getting less snow, and in the summertime, itap been way, way drier,” Reed said.
Despite the anxieties stoked by the NCAR Fire, Reed said he felt bolstered by the Boulder community Saturday.
“I had a lot of friends and family reach out and offer places for me, or anyone I knew, to stay if we needed. It was really nice to see,” Reed said.
Jenny Wanger also was evacuated from her south Boulder home on Saturday.
However, unlike Reed and Grainger, Wanger did not grow up witnessing wildfires in the area.
“We moved from downtown Chicago two years ago, and we were expecting a quieter life here,” Wanger said. “It seems like we haven’t gotten that yet.”
After the evacuation order, Wanger went to her cousin’s house, who lives in unincorporated Boulder County, right next to where the Marshall Fire began.
“As I was being evacuated due to the #NCARFire in the middle of a #pandemic I drove past my grocery store that just reopened after a shooting a year ago (#boulderStrong) to stay at a house that almost burned down during the #marshallFire. Can we get a break now?” Wanger wrote about her evacuation experience on Twitter.
“We drove out of our neighborhood, past Table Mesa and Broadway, through Marshall to get to her place, and it just gave us the entire litany of what this entire community has been faced with,” Wanger said. “I keep thanking my lucky stars that yesterday (Saturday) was as happy of an ending as one could ask for.”
