To me I've always say, "Fire has a spirit about it." This fire was caused by a light strike the night before. The sky was filled with cloud but only a small amount of rain feel upon Mother Earth. Into the storm you could hear the thunder making noise and hearing it striking so close.
Waking up the next morning. Looking around I didn't see anything until late afternoon. It was then did I see a whiff of smoking on the mountain. Then the winds came bring the fire to life.
I've seen fires before as it moves about on the ground in search of something. This is what I call the spirit of the fire moving at it own pace.
The fire happened in the Spring Creek area of the Southern Ute Indian Reservation on June 28,2012 at approximately 4:45 pm as seen from my house. My house is approximately 5 miles away, as I watched the crow fly away from my home.
The winds begin to pick up as flames could be seen from there a fire shooting upwards about 20/30 feet into the sky.
As, I drove closer to the fire on county roads on the reservation. A small helicopter arrived on the scene in about
20 minutes to combat this fire. Soon a spotter plane was seen circling the fire for observation for more planes and
helicopter to arrive on the scene.
As a much more bigger plane arrive you can see the red slurry chemical agent dropped on the fire in a series of drops. After these drops were made another helicopter arrives on the scene. Sucking up water from the Allison Ditch dropping water in key areas of the fire.
Due to the success of the fire retardant the plane only dropped 3 times and travel back to base mostly back to the Weber fire in Mancos, Colorado. Approximately 6 engines from the US Forest service arrived on scene stationed at Bayfield, Colorado.
By night fall the fire which could have gotten away was put out by all working together....
Note: The people of the North Cheyenne in Lame Deere, Montana are in need of supplies due to their fires.