Old Stage Fire, Boulder, Colorado 1-7-09

Here's a couple of shots from a grass fire we had in Boulder earlier this month. These are fairly long exposures, taken at night with a 17-50 on a tripod mounted 40D.
The shots were taken about 50 feet in front of my house looking North.
The closest fireline in these shots was around 2 miles away. The fire was contained before it starting burning houses in the city, but itt came within 20 feet of a major subdivision. It makes you really appreciate firefighters.
The fire burned roughly a thousand acres of open space but only 1 house was lost.
This was first attempt at this kind of a shot so they may not have a lot of technical merit, especially since I was standing in a 50 mph wind.
However, the pictures do give you an idea of what you do NOT want to see from your front yard.

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Definitely captures the scary feeling you must have had.

Nice shots. You guys don't have any snow down there?

yes, these are excellent given the limitations you were shooting under, and captures the drama and the tensions exceptionally well.

Top work

very cool shot

Excellent work.

A good reason to keep shrubs and trees away from your house, control the height of grass, and not have a shake roof (wood shingles)! Nice shots, but I think you have overestimated the distance to the fireline!

Dale

I like the pictures. Sorry to hear about the fires, i wasn't aware that was going on over there. I love the Boulder area. I should be heading out there for my senior trip over spring break to ski the Eldora area.

Very dramatic and beautiful photos. I was very glad that we were on the south side of town.