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Subscribe to RSSOn Monday FEMA authorized the use of federal funds to fight the fires in Colorado that are burning across the state. The most recent fire, in Colorado Springs, resulted in 11,000 evacuations over the weekend. Miguel Almaguer reports.
By Jack Chesnutt
NBC News
FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- After two weeks of around-the-clock work, firefighters are starting to gain the upper hand on the High Park fire near Fort Collins, Colo. But even as some of the residents are allowed to return to their homes, there is another casualty from the 100-square-mile blaze: Northern Colorado’s annual influx of summer visitors seeking clean air and whitewater rivers.
Jim Clark, executive director of the Ft. Collins Convention and Visitors Bureau, can see a smoky haze over the Roosevelt National Forest from his location downtown.
“The bad news is...we’re known for our outdoor recreation," he said. "A lot of that at the present time is closed.”
Clark’s office is handling many out-of-state calls from people who have questions about the smoke from the fire. For the past several weeks the Colorado Department of Public Health has issued air quality health alerts because of the dense smoke along a 200-mile corridor from Colorado Springs in the south up to the Wyoming border. This week, the smoke has been less of an issue.
“We have lots of things for them in town -- breweries, shops ... everything is still open," Clark said. "But, there are some folks who would have visited us that probably will stay away.”
Over the weekend, new flames near Colorado Springs forced thousands to evacuate -- one of several fires emptying campgrounds and hotels across the parched state.
Preston Harrington and Darrel Sellers, of Lake Charles, La., had planned to climb nearby Pikes Peak. Then they got evacuated from their hotel.
"We're used to the hurricanes and evacuating and what not. And we come up here and expect good weather and since we've been here they've had hailstorms, and now forest fires -- it just reminds us of being back home," Harrington said.
Bill Fee, shopkeeper at the Nature of Things Chainsaw Art in Manitou Springs, Colo., said it's devastating for local businesses, especially the weekend before the Fourth of July when they tend to have the most customers.
"I do worry for Colorado this year for tourism through the whole entire state -- not just the small town of Manitou, which relies completely on tourism -- it affects [businesses] across the board."
Clark says it will be weeks or even months before any hard numbers are available to calculate the loss of visitors due to the fire.
Rafting companies offer refunds
The losses have already started for Pat Legel, owner of Wanderlust Adventure Rafting in Bellevue, Colo. Legel has spent what should have been a busy start to the rafting season dusting off his rafts and life jackets. “This is historical. This is the longest we’ve been out of business.”
Legel’s company offers trips down the Cache la Poudre River, one of the most popular whitewater rivers in Colorado. The fire has cut off access to the river where it runs through the burn zone. Wanderlust is one of six local outfitters which have suspended rafting on the Poudre since June 9.
Legel said his heart goes out to the more than 200 residents who have lost their homes to the fire. But, for his business, the hardest part is making the daily calls to customers to let them know the river canyon is closed and to arrange refunds on their rafting fees.
“It’ll be a survival season, if we can get back some time early July. If not, we’ll have to maybe lay some people off and get a loan to carry us through next year.”
Legel started the company in 1982. He’s now 65.
"I don’t think I will see the landscape along the river recover in my lifetime,” he said.
Tourists changing plans
Jane Servi had house guests for the weekend at her Larimer County home and had to scramble to make new plans for weekend activities. She was looking forward to showing the visitors from Boston a Colorado whitewater adventure. But her Poudre River rafting trip was one of hundreds cancelled by the fire. Eventually she found an alternative rafting location nearly 70 miles away. It was disappointing, she said, but she's more concerned "about the people who are up there whose houses have been destroyed, and people who have been displaced."
Last week "NBC Nightly News" found Grant Houx, owner of St. Peter’s Fly shop in Fort Collins, standing thigh-deep in the Poudre River about 10 miles downstream from the fire. He was whipping a seven-foot-long fly rod through air that tastes like smoke. The water runs clear and cool here, for now. But when late summer rains come, the soot, ash and charred underbrush from 70,000 scorched acres will wash down the Poudre and smaller streams like a black tide. Not good for trout and other native fish.
“'Concern’ is one word. We don’t know exactly what the effects of that soot will be,” he said.
Houx’s fishing guide service has had “a few” fire-related cancellations. He explains that fishing is still good on several other rivers in the area unaffected by the fire.
Fires of 2012 follow record year for Colorado tourism
According to the Colorado Tourism Office, 59.7 million visitors came to the state in 2011. They spent $10.7 billion. Larimer County, where the High Park Fire continues to burn, represents 2.7 percent of statewide visitor spending.
Colorado Tourism Office chief Al White says statewide reservations are up “double-digits over last summer” but acknowledges the impact of the fires in northern Colorado and Fort Collins. The hope is that tourists understand that even a 100 square mile fire represents less than one tenth of one percent of the state of Colorado.
“The High Park fire is a tragedy, but there is still a lot to see and do in Colorado," White said. "And for now, people are still making plans to come here.”
NBC's Vicky Collins contributed to this report.
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There's a reason most of the Lone Ranger Movie is being shot in NM. It's beautiful and none of the recreation areas have been affected by the recent fires. Great air, amazing blue sky and trails to hike and bike for days. NM has some of the best fly fishing in the world- San Juan. See for yourself. NM can take care of you while the neighbors rest and recover.
I'm a Coloradan currently living overseas and obviously, this is just heartbreaking news to see. Even though the big fire was indeed started by lightning, and ultimately these fires are beneficial for the forest, it's still hard to see so many people displaced and so many losing their homes, not to mention the toll taken on wildlife and scenery. I love my state and for, I think, most people in Colorado, there's no better place to live, even with the periodic wildfires.
It is not right when the news prints an article like this one plus have things on TV about how bad it wrecks the tourism there. Colorado is a beautiful state but what about taking care of these people that have lost everything. You sure do not see that on the news. I feel they should give both subjects equal time on the news. Wildfires are a natural thing. It is part of the chance you have to take if you want to live there. It is not a matter of it will ever happen but when. California with earthquakes, Louisiana and Florida with hurricanes. It is a part of living there. My question is whom is going to take care of the homeowners and renters that were burned out of a place to live? It is going to have to be a humanitarian effort.
smittty do you own a tv. channels 4,7,9, fox31 constantly report on peoples houses being burned down and losing all. where have you been hiding
One fire alone lost 250 homes already. In addition, other fires had also lost many other houses. I bet over 1000 when all said and done. Cars, animals, people's valuables such as pictures, and human lives.
Thanks to all the men and women who are risking their life and health to fight these fires.
You sure do not see that on the news. I feel they should give both subjects equal time on the news. SMITTY YOU SURELY DONT LIVE IN CO! CHANNELS 4,7,9, FOX 31 REPORT CONSTANTLY ABOUT PEOPLES LOSSES. PEOPLE WHOM DONT LIVE HERE SHOULD NOT POST WHAT THEY DONT KNOW
This is quite surprising. Who would be afraid of sudden incineration by unpredictable gusts of flame raging through parched, withered hellscapes?
As I have looked out from my front window seeing giant smoke plumes and horrendous looking flames from the Waldo Canyon Fire, I sincerely think that tourism is the last thing on the minds of the people of Colorado Springs. All it would take is very strong winds blowing in the right direction and this could turn into a devastating inferno that could turn this area into a living h#ll. Tourism be d#mned at the moment. My gratitude goes way beyond a thank you to those putting their lives on the line to keep these fires in check. The firefighters are doing one fantastic job of keeping family homes safe from those towering infernos I have seen licking towards the sky. God Bless each and every one of those heroes.
We live in the mountains near estes park, and this is one of the hottest, driest summers we've ever seen in the 60 years we've lived here. The fire in estes park burned more than 20 homes in less than 3 hours, and the big fire to the north burned over 11,000 acres that same day - that's over 17 square miles in a single day!
The fire danger is EXTREME, and we're just now starting into the peak of our fire season which is the months of July and August when afternoon ligthening storms commonly occur. I hate to say it, but I'm afraid the situation in the mountains is going to get worse than it is now.
I highly recommend that tourists stay out of the northern colorado mountains this summer - hopefully next year the fires won't be as bad and you'll have a better chance of enjoying the rockies then! Sure the local businesses in estes park want your business, but I think public safety is a more important consideration right now, and the businessmen will be there to take your money next year if they don't get burned out this summer.
I am still trying to imagine how many customers a chain saw art shop would have?
And now for the flip side. In WA, yes the other WA, we have yet to experience summer. Our high temps are in the lower 60's and upper 50's. Brrrrrrrrr.
Right now we have a very bad fire right up against Boulder (near NCAR), and another in Colorado Springs (near Air Force Academy). Even the suburbs are starting to get evacuated. Four days over 100 degrees, bone-dry spring fuel, high winds, lightning. Very Bad situations.
let's do our rain dances and pray. Rain, cooler weather, and humid air. That will slow these fires down and hopefully put them out. Yes, it is still a beautiful state, but right now the mountains are a dangerous place to be. A huge THANKS to all the firefighters. They work so hard and may get discouraged when these fires are difficult to put out. Even some of them keep going as their own houses burn. Pray that they all stay safe and no more lost of life or structures occur.
@smoove68
I feel your pain, being (5) generation So. Fla. we have seen are fair share of tourist, but they do go home.The kick in the face, are the ones who stay and want every thing like it was up north.Drain the swamp and develop the land. We can't even fish in the canal down the road do to the way they manage the water table, (up and down, day to day) causing lesions on the fish from a lack of oxygen due to algae created by run off from over development.
4/5 ths. of the people in Florida were not here in 1980 and they are all clueless,(note that governor Rick Scott is from Nebraska and all the good he has done for the insurance industry) but that is another story.
Having never been to the great state of Colorado and planing a trip for the better part of the year and having already sent a lot of checks that way, fire or not, the wife and I will be there in a couple of weeks and will make the best of whatever mother nature sends are way.
We will drive slow and take in all that Colorado will let us see during are stay.
We will stay out of the way, as the locales go on with their daily lives.
We will pick up are trash and that of others, knowing what it is like, to have a guest, that does not leave it the way you found it or better.
We will not be a burden to anyone but each other and maybe a waitress or two.(We tip well and are not rude).
We will visit and have a good time, then go back to the land of Newlywed and the nearly dead.
As you love Colorado we love are little piece of the swamp and can't imagine living any farther from the Gulf Stream then we do now.
Fight for what you love, change what you can, accept what you can not and seek the wisdom to know the difference.
Have nice day all:)
Frontier airlines based in Denver will not refund money to anyone if they cancel their airline tickets to Colorado Springs. All it will do is give airline ticket credits on future flights. What good is that for anyone that does not fly often?
Went to Rocky Mountain National Park yesterday from Cheyenne, WY and there was no sign of fire anywhere. I am sure that can change rather quickly, so it is wise to call ahead -- the whole state is not on fire.