The Fourmile Canyon Fire - 10 years later
The scars are there, but the healing continues...
On Labor Day, September 6th, 2010, our tiny mountain community of Gold Hill, as well as our neighboring communities were blindsided by a fast-moving fire, fueled by high winds, that ripped through our mountains. Our historic town was in the direct path of the fire, but firefighters from Gold Hill, Lefthand, Fourmile, and all over the country, fought day and night to protect Gold Hill and the surrounding areas.
When the smoke settled, 6200 acres and 169 homes were destroyed. Our neighbors had lost their homes. We lost our beautiful landscape, as our majestic green mountains were replaced with charred hillsides as far as the eye could see.
Although it isn't something we like to remember, it is a part of our history. No doubt, it brought devastation, but in the midst of the sadness and destruction, our community and hundreds of volunteers from all over the country came together. In the days during the fire, and the weeks and months after the fire, we witnessed the best of our country and community.
We witnessed people working together to build resilience through compassion, friendship, love, and community bonds. These days, the scars from the fire aren't so obvious. People have healed, homes have been rebuilt, meadows of grass, wildflowers, and aspen trees grow where there once was nothing. We are thankful that our historic town still stands proud and stronger than ever!!
Join us in remembrance of the Fourmile Canyon Fire!
Stories from the Fire
"We were just finishing breakfast with Chaz and his Blues Trio. Dick had set out a few shots of rum to get the day started when we saw the smoke. We saw that Gold Hill was being evacuated but we had a few options to get out of town so we worked all day clearing trees and burnable material from our homes. Power went out around 1pm. We neighbors on Hill St worked together, cutting grass, taking down trees, etc. Around 3pm the wind died down some and we thought we might have dodged the worst of it. Without being driven by the wind, the fire spread in all directions and ultimately circled around and came at us from the west. We could hear explosions at the ranch and after 5pm the fire came from that direction. I took my dog and stayed with Matt Finn at the bottom of Lick Skillet. We had both quit smoking but Matt had a full pack of cigarettes and we smoked them!! At one point the GHFD came down and that was a low point for us. Dick and many others stayed as we had a "miracle" on Hill St. Del Hunt and his crew dropped the first slurry line of the fire around 6pm on Hill St. The fire came sweeping thru the town meadow and blew back on itself, pro-bono fire fighters layed down foam to protect houses AND the Ward Fire Fighters went back up, trucks filled with water and dug in for the overnight. The next day I heard all those who stayed were safe and in it for the long haul. Certainly a life changing experience. While we were away from our homes, we neighbors organized to fundraise to keep precious dollars at home, helping our neighbors who we knew had lost everything. Ultimately we raised $800K to be dispersed to local fire departments and people in need. That too was an amazing experience. THANK YOU to everyone who commits to being a Volunteer Fire Fighter.." - Joanne Cole
"Just days before the fire we had moved to Chautauqua after spending the summer at my family’s house in Gold Hill. When I got the call that a fire had kicked up in Emerson Gulch, it took me a minute to process what that meant. It was a chilly day and the wind in Boulder wasn’t much more than a breeze, at that moment it didn’t seem like an emergency. But I could tell by the tone of my aunt’s voice that things were serious. She told me the fire was coming straight up towards Gold Hill and there wasn’t much time to pack up and evacuate.
By the time I made it to the base of Sunshine Canyon it was closed. Don’t tell anyone, but I doubled the speed limit all the way to Lee Hill and up Left Hand, and luckily made up Lick Skillet minutes before they closed it. At first the scene wasn’t too crazy, some smoke to the south but mostly clear blue skies. Not long after that the plume of smoke began to obscure the sun and the slurry bombers made regular passes overhead. We immediately got to loading up all the family heirlooms out of our 120 year old house, but we left the thousand pound piano my ancestors brought from England where it sat in the family room. Then we headed to the Mountain Ranch and helped load up horses and saddles. Mike Walker was loading maybe 20 horses into trailers intended to carry only a dozen. His truck could barely get moving up the hill and we had to run beside it and push to get it going.
By mid-afternoon the situation had gotten pretty desperate. Horsefal and Gold Run had been overtaken by the fire. Downtown Gold Hill seemed like a lost cause and the Mountain Ranch was about to be taken as well, or so we thought. We grabbed a few last things, Edie got in my truck with nothing more than her blue daypack, and we headed towards the Peak to Peak. It felt like we were saying goodbye to Gold Hill. We stopped several times on the drive out to look back at the plume of smoke. It was massive.
That night we watched the fire from Lookout Road above Gunbarrel. At that point it seemed very unlikely that the town had survived and we wondered if the fire would eventually make its way into Boulder. It wasn’t until the next day that we heard that the town had been saved by a last minute pass by a slurry bomber. It was a well-deserved miracle. Gold Hill is a gem, and to lose it would be unimaginable. But every time I drive into town I look at the burned trees above the meadow it reminds me that this is a fragile place, and it is our responsibility to protect it as much as we can." - Matt Connery
“I was born and raised on Melvina Hill, just to the south east of Gold Hill. My parents had built the house we lived in back in the 70's, and it was a really special and unique place - a truly wonderful place to grow up hiking, biking, skiing, and exploring the hills. I remember coming up to the Gold Hill Inn for music, getting snacks at the store, playing at the Salina school, getting pie at the Salina Cafe, and my first ever time biking down the Switzerland trail with my dad.
I had returned home late that Sunday evening after a trip and woke up that morning to intense smoke and wind. Before we knew it, the sky had become completely black, and we saw an absolute wall of fire coming towards us down Monument Hill. The fire was jumping around erratically in the strong winds, and by the time my parents and I had scrambled to get to our cars, my neighbors house was already on fire. Surely we were some of the first houses to burn. The sound was unimaginable and horrifying. I just remember being in complete shock. It was clear that our house was next, and to be honest, we were lucky to even make it out of there unscathed, it was pitch dark as we drove out through the cloud of smoke. We had no time to gather any belongings and lost everything. It was definitely a tough time - I was just 20 years old at the time and was definitely very traumatized.
Luckily, my parents were able to recover and have a sweet little house in Boulder now. I was given money from the Red Cross as well as the University Of Colorado Emergency Fund, and was able to use this money to jump-start my career in filmmaking and photography, which looking back on it has been the greatest gift of all. Now ten years into my career, I wouldn't trade it for anything - it has afforded me a really incredible life that I had never even imagined. The fire definitely brought on a really good change for me there, despite how scaring it was. Fast forward now ten years, I've been living in Boulder and Longmont, and finally moved back up to the area. It's been my dream all along, and I'm so happy to be back. My girlfriend Jenna and I just bought a house together on Dixon Rd. and it feels so good to be back in the mountains and a part of this community. We are looking forward to getting more involved.
I can't thank the Fire Department enough for all they do, and definitely aspire to join as a volunteer someday soon. Thank you firefighters!” - Joey Schusler
"I am a fire fighter, so I first heard about the fire when my pager went off.
We responded to the station and were dispatched in an engine to the fire's location. Upon arrival, we were instructed to park the truck at the depot and hike up to the fire's origin. While I was being given instructions, the flames became visible on the hill just above where we were standing. I asked the staging officer what the evacuation plan was for fire response vehicles. He asked why and I pointed to the flames. In an instant, we were given orders to reverse and bug out. We followed a sheriff's vehicle that was using a loud speaker to tell people to get out now. We passed desperate people trying to toss possessions and animals into cars. At that point, there were many fire vehicles behind us trying to get out, compounded by all the residents trying to get out, it was slow going. The line of traffic was endless and it is a miracle that no one was killed in that moment of the fire. We were re-staged at the intersection of Gold Run and Four Mile, but only for a little while before we saw flames above Wallstreet and had to bug out again down to Poorman. We staged up Poorman for less than 20 minutes, when we saw flames moving closer and had to bug out again. We ended up at the Justice Center parking lot where I ran staging for the rest of the day, not knowing what was going on up in Gold Hill. We had no idea how bad it was in Gold Hill and could not get information. I learned later that my son, who was lookout and weather for the fire, was told to evacuate. He got our pets, some personal belongings and went to Nederland to wait. When we heard fire crews were being evacuated from Gold Hill, we knew things were desperate. I will never forget hearing air over the radio that "Gold Hill was saved!" We would not learn the story of the slurry bomber's timeless drop on the south side of Gold Hill until the next day. We were taken in by the McKenna family in Boulder. My son Luke and I spent the next few days helping clean out refrigerators, water plants in people's houses and work fire lines in Gold Hill. This fire changed my life in many ways and taught me much about the people in this community." - Leslie Finn
"September 6, 2010, the page for a wildland start at the bottom of Emerson Gulch, reading the digital message on the pager; time stopped and accelerated all at once. I responded close to the seat of the fire, just in time to hear the freight train sound of the fire roaring up the gulch. We were told to re-stage three times due to the intensity of the fire activity each time moving down canyon away to safer ground. At the third call to move down to the Justice Center at 6th and Canyon in Boulder, I made a difficult decision to head back up to Gold Hill. I am neither proud nor ashamed, it was just a decision I made at the time that was the right thing to do. I am accountable for my choice at the time. As I was going back up Gold Run Road through embers and smoke, my brother the Chief of Four Mile Fire Department was coming down canyon. I will never forget how our eyes met in that moment of passing. He was being called to Command Operations. I knew in that moment of passing on the road, he would be in the throes of making extremely difficult decisions as to safety of first responders, working to predict fire behavior and resource management to list just a few of the big picture responsibilities. I self-dispatched home to my district. Comparatively my task seemed simple. I evacuated horses, patrolled for hot spots and starts and as the power was out through-out our district ran to town for gas for the generators, fed chickens and checked on homes that had not burned. In the days that followed the difference between those that are called to lead and those that serve to follow was never more poignant. I am so very proud of our Fire Chiefs in our mountain districts. They have stepped up and taken on huge responsibilities with so many factors outside of their control. " - Kris Gibson
" I first heard about the fire when my daughter-in-law called me from a bike ride she was on just outside of Boulder and asked me about the fire. I said "What fire?" and then I looked out the window and saw the smoke coming up 4 mile canyon. I was packing to go on a humanitarian trip to build a library in Kenya. As I left, I bowed a Namaste to the house, said "don't burn down" and threw my passport and dufflebag in the car and drove down Sunshine canyon. It was smokey and hard to see but I just kept going. When I got to Poorman road a Sheriff's officer stopped me and told me they were taking evacuees at the North Boulder Rec Center. I told her I was going to Kenya she said "Even better go to Kenya". I was on the northern border of Kenya, out of any contact with the outside world, and didn't know for two and a half weeks if my house was safe. Thanks to all the brave firefighters my house and the town of Gold Hill made it through." - Sharon Conlin
"I was preparing to drive up to GH when Jeannie saw the smoke plume. I drove up in my pickup to get a closer look. I ended up taking 2 horses to the Ranch with the help of two residents, then drove home until we were told to evacuate. Since the fire we’ve installed dry hydrants, cisterns and upgraded our fire fighting equipment. We still need to mitigate the north and west sides of Gold Hill" - Rich Lopez
"I was working on the North Slope in Alaska the day the fire started. I called home fairly early in the morning to check on the family, and Breida had already gone to school to prepare for the coming week. Dustin answered, but i had woke him up (and he was not in the mood to talk). So, I signed off and said I would talk to him later. He called me back within 20 minutes, and reported that there was a bunch of smoke coming into town, and the winds were hot, active and swirly. I asked him to go out on the street to see if he could find someone to give him some news about what the heck was happening. Fortunately, the first person he ran into was Chief Chris Finn, who told Dustin where the fire was and how it seemed to be behaving. Evacuation was already likely at that early stage. Since he was the only one home I asked him to get to gather the computers, a few photo albums, the dogs. and my fishing rods. He worked getting our stuff ready, helped Boyd Brown and his family, and then went up to the Colorado Mountain Ranch to help Mike with his horses. He was busy helping folks until forced to leave town by the advancing fire front." - Rick Geesaman
"I was driving towards Denver when my husband, who was in boulder, called to say he saw smoke that looked like a fire that might be close to Gold Hill. I turned over my shoulder to see the smoke in the Foothills. My husband quickly drove towards Sunshine Canyon to try to get home, but it was already closed to non-emergency vehicles. At the time, we were living in the cabin on my parent's property. My Mom was out of town, but I was worried about my Dad. I hadn't heard from him and he was all alone with 4 dogs. I hoped he would be able to get himself and the dogs as well as as a few belongings out of the house before he had to evacuate. I kept checking North Boulder Rec Center as I had heard that was where residents were being told to evacuate to. Finally, around 3pm, I saw him in the parking lot. I was relieved and full of questions. Over the next week, we had enough contact to find out that our chickens were being cared for, watered and fed by the firefighters and that their eggs were collected and enjoyed by the crew. I was 9 months pregnant at the time, and as you can imagine, I was worried about what we would do if we no longer had a home to come back to. " - Jessica Brookhart
"As usual getting up early and sitting on the front porch has been my day. 10 years ago on this day, sitting on the porch, windy and hot and early. Residents in 4 mile from out on Ridge Road were coming into town, upset, screaming, confused. They were speaking of a fire that had just reached their homes. The fire dept was on alert. As I sat there, Max came through town with his bulldozer and headed out to the subdivision. I decided I would follow him as I understood there was a fire by that time. I knew he would be slow on his track machine. I got out of my truck and talked to him and he told me that he could not read his radio because he had forgotten his glasses at home and did not know what channel to be on so I gave him my glasses and then came home. By that time a sheriff’s deputy was standing at the bottom of Horsfal at the intersection of Lick Skillet and Main Street. He asked me to identify people who should be evacuating and staying for a short time to collect personal items. About 10 o’clock I decided that I would evacuate as I was home alone. Marie had left the day before. I had 4 dogs and 3 cars and I needed drivers. Friends helped me load items into my pickup and car. I took my guns to the Boulder Gun Club and they stored them for me. I stayed 2 days with friends until I got a room at the Holiday Inn Express along with all 4 dogs." - Don Brookhart
