Across Colorado, 180,000 Piles Of Cut Understory Pine Await The Torch, But Still Too Dry
PINEWOOD LAKE — A federal forester flicked a Bic, igniting a first bone-dry pile of culled young pines — testing conditions for the looming task of torching 180,000 similar piles across Colorado.
The continued construction of houses in burn zones is forcing this effort to thin overly dense forests and reduce the risk of super-intense wildfires. For years, federal forest managers have targeted young trees in areas near homes to try to prevent the sort of devastating wildfires that exploded across thousands of acres in Colorado last year, killing six people and destroying hundreds of homes.
Ecologists question the strategy of manually thinning by targeting young trees, warning that this could kill the capacity of forests to regenerate. But the most immediate challenge for fuel technicians Matt Champa and Joe Parr, and their counterparts statewide, is getting the already-cut piles burned.
As flames licked upward amid mature ponderosa pines towering above high-value horse farms and homes, Champa had to quickly make an assessment. "Conditions just aren't favorable. We need more snow. We need a minimum of 3 inches," he said, deciding to postpone burning of 900 more piles 8 miles west of Loveland in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests. "This thing could burn through the night, the wind might get it, and it could creep out."
EDIT
http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_22331078/foresters-have-180-000-piles-trees-burn-colorado
= new reply since forum marked as read
According to a story in the paper the other day, there are small coal outcrops up on the cliffs that are still burning, although the fire was declared "out" in July. Apparently, the hot spots are too difficult to reach and not considered a risk to spread. 
