Brad Feld

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Fire in my backyard

Sep 17, 2004
Category Places

Today was a strange day. At 2:30pm, on our way back from Aspen to Boulder, I got a call from my assistant Wendy saying, “there’s a fire in Eldorado Springs – I’m driving over to your place to see what’s up and check on your dogs.” Apparently, Boulder County was doing a controlled burn just outside of Eldorado Springs and it hopped the fire line and got out of control.

We’re back home and safe as the fire is now under control (after burning 50 acres). This is our third brush with fire in four years – the original Eldorado Springs fire was actually on our land (and came within 200 yards of our house) and the Walker Ranch fire (which burned over 1000 acres in three days) was less than two miles (and – more importantly – one ridge) away. After the Eldorado Springs fire that was on our land several years ago, I went on a “fire reading binge” to learn everything I could. Fire is an amazing, scary, and primal thing – I don’t think I’ll ever get comfortable with it.

Amy and I talked briefly about chucking our mountain life and moving to Cherry Creek. Yes – it was a brief conversation.