Enflamed Foothills of the Hewlett Fire

This image of the Hewlett Fire was taken Wednesday night from Watson Lake (still miles away from the actual fire) just outside of Fort Collins, CO. The fire absolutely blew up during this time, it was amazing to watch and scary. We went from 982 acres to 5,090 acres and the fire now stands at some 7,300 acres.

A bit of rain helped today, but the fire still has very little containment and continues to grow. I hope the fire burn isn't too hot so that at least the ecological benefits of fire can be realized with hopefully no loss of life or property. Amazingly, there are no reports of lost structures and the largest evacuation order has been lifted. Fingers crossed we can start to turn the corner on this fire soon.

Image notes: Manually blended a few frames to pull out foreground detail on the lake and still use a shorter exposure for the sky to protect the highlights of the fire.

HewlettGulchHewlett FireFort Collins' CO Colorado Wildfire Fire ForestFire News Events Current Nature Landscape BlueHour Night Evening WatsonLakeWatsonSWALarimerNikonD7002012AMichael Menefee