Home » United States » The Bobcat Gulch Wildfire (June 2000)

The Bobcat Gulch Wildfire began Monday morning, June 12, 2000 in Bobcat Gulch, just north of Drake, CO. On Tuesday, June 20 (8 days after it started), the fire was declared 100% contained. The total burn area was 10,600 acres and 22 structures (mostly homes) were lost. The total cost to fight the fire (not including losses) was $3.5 million. The last count of insurance claims I saw was $15 million.

The Bobcat Gulch Wildfire (June 2000)

Kab
2004-09-15 10:03:41

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have help. But it was very sobering to see a house full of memories and possessions reduced to a pile of rubble. Bottles were fused together, china was melted (not broken, just melted), and anything with any metal in it left only the metal to indicate what it had been.

And soot was everywhere. Every time you picked something up and threw it in the truck you breathed it in. One guy said he now remembered why he quit smoking 15 years ago! And it was hot. This was what would turn out to be the last day of a 17-day heat wave along the Front Range of 90 degrees or higher. I know not everyone will think that's hot, but believe me, here that's hot. And up on Storm Mountain I bet it was in the mid-80s.

The property was beautiful (if you could take yourself back and imagine it green). Walking behind where their cabin had been, up a hill and out onto an open area with some really nice rock formations, you could look down into the valley. I could even see my house from there. Such a beautiful piece of land and it was now so barren. The couple said they weren't planning to rebuild, they didn't figure they had the time. But their 23-year-old grandson would hold onto the property and by the time he was in his 30s and ready to build on it, it would probably be a nice place again. It was sad, but they seemed to have a really good attitude about it. They really appreciated the 30 years they'd had there.

When we arrived it had been a total disaster, pieces of metal roof, stuff from the house, and soot everywhere. When we left, there was only a chimney standing (to be knocked down and hauled off later).

I think they're doing this again next Saturday but I'll be out of town, I wish I'd be around. Watching folks get together to help each other helps renew my faith in mankind (which has been taking a beating lately) ;-).

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