2 Dead From Colorado Wild Fire

The Lower North Fork Fire, which started Monday, has claimed it's second victim. Authorities are not releasing any information on the deaths other than that they occurred. It is thought that they are people who refused evacuation orders.

Sixteen homes have been confirmed lost at this point. So far the fire has claimed over 4,500 acres, and continues to grow. There is no time table yet for containment.

Around 500 firefighters are expected to be fighting the fire by the end of the day. Ground crews have been able to begin suppression efforts from the purely protection roles that they had been stuck with. Hot Shot crews are in route from Utah, South Dakota, and Arizona.

Air crews have joined the fight and are doing what they can, as intermittent winds hamper their efforts. A heavy P2V airplane has been dropping fire retardant over the fire. Two National Guard helicopters, capable of dropping water, are on the way from Buckley Air Force Base.

Evacuations are still in place for nearly 1,000 homes, with many others still told to be ready to get out. The metro area is still under an Air Quality Advisory, and that is not likely to be lifted as long as the fire is still growing.

Jefferson County earlier created a map to show the extent of the fire area, but it has not been updated since 23:00 MDT Monday. It does show evacuation points, and road block locations as well.


View Lower North Fork Wildfire in a larger map

Lower North Fork Fire

The Lower North Fork fire, which started Monday, continued to burn throughout the night, burning down as many as twenty five homes. As of late Monday night, one fatality has been confirmed, though no further information has been released yet.

Over 3,000 acres have burned so far, leading to the evacuation of nearly 1,000 homes. Those numbers could easily climb. Jefferson County has asked all nearby residents, north of the fire and south of Highway 285, to be ready to evacuate if the winds return and push the fire further.

Around 100 firefighters battled the blaze throughout the night. They are expected to be joined by at least 450 more throughout Tuesday. Air support is available, and will be flying for as long as winds allow.

Firefighters have mostly been working on structure protection, but there are worries that it is headed towards state parks, where animals such as snakes, bears, and mountain lions may pose a threat to the firefighters. If the fire continues it's march north and east, greater numbers of homes will also be threatened, as it heads into more densely populated parts of the Denver metro.

An Air Quality Advisory remains in effect for the Denver metro area. Authorities say if visibility is less than 5 miles in smoke in your neighborhood due to a wildfire or controlled burn, smoke has reached levels that are unhealthy. If smoke is thick or becomes thick in your neighborhood it's recommended you stay indoors. This is especially important for people with heart disease, respiratory illnesses, the very young, and the elderly.

Jefferson County has created a Google map to show where the fire is known to be and been, location of roadblocks, evacuation points, and other information as well.

View Lower North Fork Wildfire in a larger map

Remembering: Dr. Jonas Salk and The Polio Vaccine

March 26, 1953 Dr. Jonas Salk announces to the world that he has successfully created and tested a vaccine for polio. By 1954, two million children had been involved in clinical trials. In April 1955, the vaccine was pronounced effective and safe, leading to nationwide inoculation.

Salk began his research into a polio vaccine in 1948, after receiving a grant from the University of Pittsburgh. For his work, Dr. Salk would be given many awards throughout the rest of his life, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977.

Polio attacks the nervous system, causing varying degrees of paralysis. Mostly striking infants, it could strike adults as well. Perhaps the most famous of it's victims was President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who became partially paralyzed after being struck with at the age of thirty-nine. In 1952 alone nearly 3,000 Americans had died from the disease.

The disease has not been wiped from the earth, and does pop up every once in awhile in the United States. Most cases are people who have immigrated from other countries, especially developing ones.

Colorado Fires Continue to Spread During Night

The Lower North Fork fire has grown to over 3,000 acres, and burned down several houses. Jefferson County officials have confirmed that there has been a fatality linked to the fire. The death is under investigation, and no further information has been released at this time. Fifteen fire departments are already fighting the fire, with more agencies preparing to join.

Mandatory evacuations have spread to nearly 1,000 homes. All residents south of Highway 285, in the area, have been warned that they should be ready to evacuate as well. Evacuated residents were asked to go to Chatfield and Conifer High Schools. Large animals evacuated due to the fire can be taken to the Jefferson County Fairgrounds.

Due to the smoke from the Lower North Fork fire, the entire Denver metro has been placed under an air quality advisory. Authorities say if visibility is less than 5 miles in smoke in your neighborhood due to a wildfire or controlled burn, smoke has reached levels that are unhealthy. If smoke is thick or becomes thick in your neighborhood it's recommended you stay indoors. This is especially important for people with heart disease, respiratory illnesses, the very young, and the elderly.

Another fire has broken out near Loveland, but is already half contained. All other fires that started on Monday have been contained or extinguished. Winds are expected to dissipate over night, which will slow the fire's growth, and allow for air crews to join the fight, in the morning.

More Warnings For North Korea Over Planned Launch

North Korean plans to launch a rocket in April, met with continued hostility and warnings. The United States and Japan have already warned them not to.

On Monday, China and South Korea joined the nay sayers. China pledged to do it's best to dissuade North Korea from actually attempting the launch. South Korea joined Japan in saying they may shoot it down if it crosses their airspace.

North Korea maintains that the rocket is purely for scientific reasons, and will launch a satellite into space. The other countries condemn it as a long range missile test, and warn that it would hamper peace processes, likely including food shipments.

Originally the trajectory would have had it go across the main islands of Japan, eastwards, just as a previous rockets have in the past. Last week North Korea replotted the course to go south, causing concerns it may hit Indonesia or even Australia, should it fall back to the earth.

Fires Ignite in Colorado

Fires have been burning all day throughout Colorado, increasing allergies and making breathing difficult. High winds and humidity in the single digits have added to the problems, driving flames and spreading smoke and ashes further east.

As the wind dies down this evening, most of the fires have been put out, or at least contained. Summit, Larimer, Morgan, Weld, and Logan Counties, all have dealt or are dealing with small fires.

Hardest hit is Jefferson County where multiple fires took off, the largest of which, the Lower North Fork fire, is still uncontrolled, and burning over 200 acres at this time. So far it has caused mandatory evacuations, for 400 plus homes, in the south west Denver metro area. Roxborough and Conifer have been directly effected by the fire, though no structures have been lost. Firefighters battling it hope to contain it by the end of the night.

Photo Courtesy of Danny Grace

Views from Aurora, in the eastern metro, show just how thick the smoke is. The picture was taken from an area about thirty-five miles away from the fire. It also highlights the return of the infamous red sun, as the sun is choked by the smoke from the fires.

Near Saddle Rock, in the south east metro, it smells as if someone is having a nice bonfire just down the street. The smoke has pervaded itself into everything, luckily the fires have not.

Classic Pick: Lady for a Day

This is a fabulous Frank Capra movie about Apple Annie, an elderly street vendor (May Robson) with tattered clothes but a heart of gold. She wants to impress her daughter who’s coming to visit with her fiance, a hoity-toity Count.

All these years, Robson’s daughter has been away at a Spanish school, and Robson has been signing her letters as Lady Manville and describing in great detail a make-believe high life spent hobnobbing with luminaries; now Robson needs to play the part for real, or risk breaking her daughter’s heart and jeopardizing her marriage. Heart-warming and delightful seem such over-used, trite and flimsy words, but in their purest definition perfectly describe this movie.

The cast combination, though it may be “lesser-known” to classic movie newbies, is magic: Warren William plays the slick gangster who believes his gambling luck depends on Annie’s apples, and so, partly out of superstition, but mostly because he has a soft heart which he tries mightily to conceal, he moves heaven and earth (or, rather, all the underworld figures he can intimidate, blackmail or cajole), directing all his considerable charm and resources to helping Robson pose as the center of a high society circle. The fantasy world he creates is awe-inspiring, populated by colorful characters and played by comedy masters in juicy roles, greats like Glenda Farrell, Nat Pendleton, Ned Sparks and a deceptively doofus-y Guy Kibbee as Robson’s “husband,” “Judge” Manville.

The way they all pull together, despite bickering and threats to quit, and hold the spectacularly ridiculous masquerade together is as suspenseful as any thriller. Nosy reporters smell something’s not right? No problem, kidnap them. Gangsters and their molls don’t sound convincing enough to pass as swells? No problem, write scripts and speeches for them and rehearse everything like a big Broadway production replete with lessons in bearing and posture, much to the puzzlement of the authorities, who seem convinced this weird behavior is all meant for some criminal purpose.

When things finally seem doomed to fall apart, and even Robson loses all hope, Warren William pulls off one whopper of a save, and restores not just the situation at hand but your very faith in humanity. This is one of the movies that falls into the category “they don’t make ‘em like this anymore.”

Battle of The Snow Whites

2012 is apparently the year of Snow White with two remakes of the Grimms fairytale, that Walt Disney turned into animated magic.

Mirror Mirror gets first shot, coming out March 30. This version has more of a comical, musical feel, though you will see Snow White picking up a sword and fighting for her birth right.

The movie stars Julie Roberts as the queen, Lily Collins will be playing Snow White, Armie Hammer as Prince Alcott, and Nathan Lane as the queen's aid Brighton. You'll likely recognize some of the dwarfs, and Sean Bean cameos as the king.

Twenty-three year old Collins has not been in much yet, though you may remember her as the daughter in The Blind Side, where she got to play with Sandra Bullock. Armie Hammer, is also fairly new to the spotlight, though in 2013 he'll be taking up the part of The Lone Ranger.



On June 1, Snow White and The Huntsman charges onto the screen. This adaptation has a much darker more adventurous feel, and could easily be a highlight of the summer. A lot more creativity was put into it as well, with the land of Sanctuary and the changes in the story line.

Charlize Theron stars as a much eviler queen, one who sucks the very life out of girls to maintain her own beauty. Kristen Stewart, of Twilight, plays a Snow White who apparently has spent her life in captivity. She escapes into the dark forest, only to eventually become a warrior princess bent on retaking the kingdom so that all creatures can life freely.

The Hunstman, who is sent to find Snow White for the Queen and ends up becoming her trainer for the war, is being played by Chris Hemsworth. Hemsworth has had a very exciting career so far with such roles as Thor in Thor and The Avenger movies, and he'll also be Jed Eckert, originally played by Patrick Swayze, in the Red Dawn remake due out November 2.

The Ranger Rides Again

Hi-yo silver and away we go into another remake. That's right, it's time for The Lone Ranger to return to screens. The movie is set to release May 13, 2013.

Playing the Lone Ranger is, little known, Armie Hammer. Armie is getting more and more of the spotlight though. He plays Prince Alcott in Mirror Mirror, due March 30, 2012, the first of two Snow White remakes.

The real star though will be Johnny Depp, who has been cast in the role of Tonto. He'll no doubt bring his rather unique acting abilities to the role, and steal the show.

Some of have raised issue with a non Native American playing the role. When asked about it Depp's response to EW.com was,"I have some Native American somewhere down the line. My great grandmother was quite a bit of Native American, she grew up Cherokee or maybe Creek Indian. Makes sense in terms of coming from Kentucky, which is rife with Cherokee and Creek."

Other notables that are set to play parts include Tom Wilkinson and Helena Bonham Carter, who seems to keep finding herself in movies with Depp.

So far the budget of the movie, is well over $200 million. Multiple studios rejected the film, until Disney picked it up.

United States Joins Japanese Condemnation of North Korean Plans

The United States has joined Japan in issuing warnings to North Korea over a planned rocket launch. The rocket, which North Korea says is designed to carry a satellite into space, is scheduled to launch in mid April, in celebration of what would have been Kim Il-sung's 100th birthday.

Japan, the United States, and others say that the rocket launch is a test of a long range missile. Such a test would be in violation of current agreements between the governments.

To avoid issues with Japan, North Korea has moved the trajectory to a more southerly course, that should avoid Japanese airspace completely. But Japan is still reading missile defenses in case the rocket crosses into their airspace, and may decide to shoot it down.

The new course takes it towards Australia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell stated that such a trajectory has never been seen before. Adding that the possibly effected countries have been asked to join the condemnation of the launch.