Northwest Colorado Springs on fire

**Scottsredvette** · 06-26-12, 09:37 PM

For those of you that attended CruiseFest Colorado Springs, The Flying W Ranch was just lost to the massive fire here in Colorado Springs. Most of the area around it is on fire. From Garden of the Gods north to the Air Force Academy was evacuated this afternoon, 32,000 people displaced. Almost 6000 acres are now lost More info can be seen at www.kktv.com (local tv). They have a live stream on their site, scroll down a bit and click on the Waldo Canyon link.

Scott

**Mac** · 06-26-12, 10:16 PM

I hope you and yours stay safe, Scott. Those who can, please offer a prayer for the good folks of Colorado Springs...

-Mac

**geekinavette** · 06-27-12, 01:25 AM

It is just so depressing watching this unfold. Crews had been able to keep the fire out of populated areas...until today when a freak dry thunderstorm brought 50+ MPH winds in the worst possible direction; right smack into the West side of Colorado Springs. Zach and I were sitting on a hill just behind our house on the far East side of the city watching the ominous smoke cloud...

...when the winds shifted out of nowhere and we watched the smoke cloud coming directly towards us. Within 10 minutes it was so smoky at my house my eyes were burning.

Unfortunately this quick storm also carried the flames across both primary and secondary established fire lines into very heavily populated areas. So many people evacuated in such a short time brought the west side traffic to a screeching halt for some time. Structures are going up faster than the news can report it.

One of those that had to evacuate quickly was one of the CF07 show winners Jeff and Rhonda Small with their beautiful mint condition '63 split window fuelie...which is now resting comfortably in my garage. (the family is also safe and sound out of harm's way). At the moment their neighborhood is not being reported as on fire.

There are other fellow local members that haven't been heard from that live in the same area...the worry level is pretty high here. Just heartbreaking to watch this happening.

**Toms01** · 06-27-12, 09:48 AM

Thanks for the updates, Scott and Bill. I've been wondering about the situation up there.

**XLR8** · 06-27-12, 10:01 AM

Thanks for the update guys - keep us in the loop, okay?
I know very well that frustrating, worrisome and helpless feeling from being smackdab in the middle of a disaster.
You're in our prayers!

Jane Ann

**jrose7004** · 06-27-12, 11:22 AM

Thanks for the update! That was a great event when Cruisefest was there! Stay safe.

**geekinavette** · 06-27-12, 12:27 PM

More Easterly winds today...entire city is covered with a blanket of thick smoke, downright painful to breathe (and of course all of the stores are sold out of masks). I can see the wall of fire moving down the foothills towards the city. Not gonna be a good day.

**XLR8** · 06-27-12, 01:44 PM

I spoke to Patrick awhile ago. I'd forgotten he's not in Colorado Springs... but his parents are and they've been evacuated.
You guys stay safe!

**Patrick** · 06-27-12, 09:50 PM

Apparently, local officials in the Springs are requesting that cell phone usage be kept to a minimum, because the volume of calls has been overloading the capacity of the mobile services networks. Because of that, since I'm 50 miles away in Parker, I've spent a fair portion of the day serving as information conduit between my parents down in the Springs, and family and friends from out of state.

To help show the scale of what happened when this fire went wild yesterday, I did what any planner does... I made a map.

Map 1.jpg

The area shaded in red was the progress of the Waldo Canyon fire from the time it erupted on Saturday through Monday night. Note how careful the fire teams were to make sure Manitou Springs was spared. The area in orange represents what happened to the fire yesterday- it doubled in size. As Scott said, it wiped out the Flying W Ranch. It's destroyed several homes in the Mountain Shadows subdivision to the north of the Flying W. And it was bearing down on Centennial Boulevard. That's of personal family interest to me. I've drawn a line around the neighborhood called "Pine Cliff." That's where my parents' house is located. They were evacuated at 6PM yesterday, in a chaos of slow moving traffic trying to get out of the area, in a lot of cases without the benefit of traffic signals (power outages.) If the fire somehow jumps over Centennial Blvd, and gets into Ute Valley Park, Pine Cliff is in real danger.

It may also be of note to everyone who attended CruiseFest '07 that the hotel we stayed at, the old Silverwood, is located adjacent to and immediately south of the Pine Cliff neighborhood, and is part of the evacuation area.

This afternoon, a pre-evacuation alert was issued for the entirety of the Air Force Academy, and all of El Paso County north of the AFA and west of Interstate 25, including the Towns of Monument and Palmer Lake. That's frankly one huge area.

And the frustrating thing is the incident command team aren't being real communicative with the public today about what the fire has been doing, and how they've been responding to attack it and halt its progress.

-Patrick

**geekinavette** · 06-27-12, 09:55 PM

No they really haven't. The only way to know what's happening is find a spot high enough to SEE it. Right now it seems calm on the East side of the fire, but then again many areas just aren't visible from where we are. For the first time in two days we have been able to go outside without choking and dodging flying ash and debris. We can still see a wall of smoke coming off of the other side of the hills.

**geekinavette** · 06-28-12, 05:38 PM

Weather cooperating well yesterday and today so far. Still spreading but much more slowly, nothing like Tuesday when the fire nearly tripled in size and the resulting horrific firestorm took out a preliminary estimate of 346 homes (just reported by the mayor of Colorado Springs), and a handful of people reported as "missing".

Federal "HotShot" crews are on the ground focused on keeping the fire away from the Air Force Academy. Heavy equipment from local military bases are on the ground digging fire lines all around.

Containment reported upgraded from 5 to 10%.

Now I have to elaborate on the "horrific" comment...that is not a media quote, that was mine, my wife's and Zach's own personal reactions when we drove about halfway across town to help Jeff rescue his '63. We topped a hill around a curve and I just cannot describe the scene unfolding in front of us. A wall of flame and smoke that even from several miles away was moving so fast that we could just see it traveling DOWN hill directly into these heavily populated communities. Its one of those things that you only see in the movies.

My wife posted this on Facebook after seeing this horrible sight:

The city burns. There are not enough words to describe the immensity and the impact of the fire that is wreaking destruction on the Springs and surrounding areas. The orange glow filling the western sky. Driving, turning a corner and suddenly seeing flames consuming everything in their path on a distant, but yet, very close hillside. Flare-up throwing flames high into the sky. Someone else just lost their home, their dreams, their shelter. Smoke and ash filling the sky. The community coming together to help those in need. Truly these are days like no other.

Its such an accurate description, and on the plus side that is to include the community coming together. The shelters are reporting that they are completely overwhelmed with donations...to the extent that they are asking residents NOT to bring any more of certain supplies! They are also reporting that there is an abundance of people volunteering their time. Unfortunately times like this tend to also bring out the scammers of the world...there have been reports of individuals out of state calling around posing as the Red Cross and asking for monetary donations.

**ROCKETBLOCK** · 06-28-12, 05:50 PM

Good to see it calmed down some! What a terrible tragedy for such a beautiful area. You all are in my thoughts.

**Patrick** · 06-28-12, 09:49 PM

President Barack Hussein Kardashian is coming to Colorado Springs tomorrow. Just what we need- more hot air.

I hope he's booed enthusiastically.

**geekinavette** · 07-03-12, 02:48 PM

Originally Posted by Patrick

President Barack Hussein Kardashian is coming to Colorado Springs tomorrow. Just what we need- more hot air.

I hope he's booed enthusiastically.

In a media briefing the incident commander, or fire chief or whatever his role is, did not even try to hide his dislike of the interruption of doing their job to play the political pr bullshit game. That was awesome!
As it is now 70% contained, established lines holding in spite of brief wind storms, 1500+ firefighters on the ground, somewhere around 17;000-18,000 acres, 346 homes destroyed (none since last tuesdays firestorm), 2 two fatalities (civilian, found in their home), over 1 million pounds of Care and Share donations (this just blows me away, incredible!).

**Scottsredvette** · 07-03-12, 10:11 PM

Originally Posted by geekinavette

In a media briefing the incident commander, or fire chief or whatever his role is, did not even try to hide his dislike of the interruption of doing their job to play the political pr bullshit game. That was awesome!
As it is now 70% contained, established lines holding in spite of brief wind storms, 1500+ firefighters on the ground, somewhere around 17;000-18,000 acres, 346 homes destroyed (none since last tuesdays firestorm), 2 two fatalities (civilian, found in their home), over 1 million pounds of Care and Share donations (this just blows me away, incredible!).

Update to 80% and we had RAIN over the burn area. They're estimating complete containment by the 8th of July!