Harris Fire Update...

The photo at right (click to enlarge it) is stitched together from three of the cameras on Lyons Peak (E, S, and W, left-to-right). This panorama shows the entire northern flank of the Harris Fire, from the Barrett Dam area on the left to San Miguel Mountain on the right. I'm sure this looks bad to anyone seeing it – but there's actually some good news visible in these photos.

The first bit of good news is that the winds have died down. Earlier the smoke from each fire was blowing right along the ground (along with the embers spreading the fire). Now the smoke rises, and since I captured these photos that has become even more dramatic. Looming in our southern sky now is a large, ugly smoke plume that looks way too close. If it wasn't for these cameras showing me where the fires are, I'd think they were much closer…

The second bit of good news is that the number of individual hot spots is way, way down – and the intensity of those remaining is also way down. I can't be sure why that is – could be just good luck and lighter winds, or it could be the efforts of the firefighters – but whatever the cause, I'd judge the immediate threat to us to be considerably lower than the early morning hours this morning.