Waldo Canyon fire breaks out. 346 houses lost, some can return home @ 8PM (El Paso, Colorado).

[joshcryer]

Last edited Thu Jun 28, 2012, 08:36 PM - Edit history (9)

Latest burn map (June 28):



Houses burning.



This is in the Mountain Shadows area (North West Colorado Springs).



Rampart Range road was where the fire fighters were fighting it back and because of wind conditions it got into Queens Canyon. It broke containment at around 4-6PM.

This is in El Paso County Colorado, just outside of Colorado Springs: http://www.kktv.com/video/live



They've been fighting this fire since Saturday. It's only 5% contained. 99-100 degree weather every day since Saturday. It's been basically hell. This morning the smoke was so thick over the city you could hardly breath.

It was just announced that the US Air Force Academy was just put on pre-evacuation notice. The US Air Force Academy is just a very woody area, almost a forest really.

[joshcryer]

1. Live stream here (24/7):

http://www.kktv.com/video/live

[kentuck]

7. Here is a live feed...

...from the firemen on the line.

http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/?action=wp&feedId=34

[Liberal_in_LA]

24. scary. stay safe.

[Liberal_in_LA]

27. evacuation bus driving on the wrong side against traffic.

just saw on the feed. wow

[teddy51]

2. Is this Colorado?

[joshcryer]

4. Yes, sorry, I will edit the topic.

[TwilightGardener]

5. Yes, near CO Springs.

[joshcryer]

3. Mandatory evacuations for Mountain Shadows and Peregrine was announced 20 mins ago.

There's a raging inferno coming right at it.

[kentuck]

6. It's getting pretty bad right now.

The wind has picked up and changed directions. It's pretty serious at the moment.

[joshcryer]

8. Really unfortunate that it got into Queens Canyon.

They seemed really confidant this morning at 8AM. I feel really bad for these Mountain Shadow people, looks like they're going to be the first homes lost.

[Blue_In_AK]

9. So sad.

We used to go up there on the Rampart Range Road a lot when I was a kid living in C. Springs. I can't believe this is happening.

[joshcryer]

12. I was up there a few weeks back. It's hard to imagine.

That whole scenic area is basically destroyed right now.

[Blue_In_AK]

21. Josh, do you know how far away this fire is from Woodland Park?

My family used to own a motel up there about three miles south (?) toward Colorado Springs. I would be so sad if anything happened to that place. It's been there for 50 years.

[kentuck]

22. Blue, from what I heard earlier today...

It was a threat to Rampart Reservoir, our water supply, in that it burned a few electrical lines that run to the pump stations. As you may recall, Rampart Reservoir is rather close to Woodland Park. If the wind turns, it could be there in a couple of days.

[joshcryer]

28. They made some breaks (bulldozer tracks) in Cascade and will do the same in Woodland.

The main concern is keeping it contained to the east of I-24. The reservoir isn't too bad because they can at least use the water from it and it acts as a natural break.

[joshcryer]

26. I-24 has a tight line up to Woodland Park. It's safe for now. The concern...

...is that it's going to break the Rampart Range Road line and move into the US Air Force Base. The Air Force Base has no real "line" (a concrete or dirt road, a tree break, etc) with which the fire fighters can fight back.

I-24 and Rampart Range Road were the containment lines that they had set up. This morning it was looking really good, but this afternoon, literally a few minutes before the 4PM briefing it broke the Rampart Range Line, I think it's safe to say that it actually broke the line at this point (from the reports I'm seeing), but it's not official. When it's official (7:30 PM briefing) I'll edit the topic, because this fire will have went from a fire that was containable to one that is out of control.

[malthaussen]

10. This is why we need fewer firefighters

There they are, sucking off the public teat, draining precious resources that could go into corporate pockets to create jobs, and they can't even do their jobs? Worthless parasites.

(although it grieves me to do so, I will add: )

-- Mal

[joshcryer]

11. It's cool to see a conservative mayor talk about how great the fire fighters are.

They have been staying in tents outside of a high school near the access points to the fire. Tents, 80 degrees at midnight. Horrible conditions, high 90 temperatures all day long. High winds.

[malthaussen]

13. I have a friend who used to fight those fires

It is definitely not a job for the faint-of-heart.

-- Mal

[joshcryer]

14. HOLY CRAP LOOK AT WOODMAN. OMFG!

I cannot believe how dark the skies became.

[joshcryer]

15. Shot of the plume from where I live (east side):

[kentuck]

16. I'm getting some pretty strong wind gusts in the north end of town...

the strongest I have seen since the fire began. It doesn't look good at the moment.

[Spazito]

17. Geez! Stay safe!

That is very scary! I am watching the live feed from the link in your thread, good coverage on it, shows how big, how serious this is.

Again, stay safe!

[joshcryer]

18. I'm in no danger at all, that shot is at least 15 miles away. :)

But thank you! I'm so worried for those people at the north end of town.

My dang brother is out driving around in it, I want to tell him to come back but he won't listen.

[Spazito]

19. Glad to hear you're safe!

I was just hearing that 9,000 have been evacuated from the north, scary times for them. The visibility looks bad, I would be worried re your brother if I were you too.

[russspeakeasy]

20. Please keep us updated. MSM mentions it, but very few details.

Good luck.

[joshcryer]

23. Just came back inside from checking things out. My clothes smell like a campfire.

It's nuts.

[russspeakeasy]

41. Wish I could send you some of the flood waters from Florida.

18" and counting...Good luck to you and yours.

[XemaSab]

25. Solidarity from California

I've been there before and it sucks.

[joshcryer]

29. Flying W. Ranch on fire. Wow.

I remember visiting there back in the early 2000s.

Owner believes her entire ranch is up in flames.

[joshcryer]

38. Just confirmed that Flying W. has been completely destroyed as well as other houses.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Flying-W-Ranch-Inc/276161053504

[Blue_In_AK]

61. Is that near the Garden of the Gods?

Would we have gone there for chuckwagon dinners when I was a kid? It's been so long since I lived in Colorado, I've forgotten some place names.

[joshcryer]

62. Yep. :(

[Blue_In_AK]

64. Oh, that's so sad.

My childhood going up in flames.

[joshcryer]

65. It will grow back, but yeah, it's a shame. :(

Picture from 2007:

[seabeyond]

79. i have been there. took pictures of the formations.... nt

[joshcryer]

30. Was listening to the Fire Fighter feed. They said a house on this street is on fire:

http://goo.gl/maps/xUxV

Apparently they're going to let it burn and assess the situation.

He said, paraphrased, "Structure on fire at Champagne and Flying W. We are going to reassess, return, and protect the other structures. No intent to save the structure."

[joshcryer]

31. Wow. Southbound I-25 from Interquest to N. Academy closed!

That is inconceivable! Just 3 hours ago they shrugged off the possibility that I-25 would have to be closed! That's just how bad it's become in the past 3 hours. I cannot believe that.

[Spazito]

32. It sounds like the fire really 'blew up' this afternoon...

from the live feed, they are astounded by the speed, mere seconds, for the fire to grow the way it has.

A frightening time the people of Colorado Springs, my thoughts are with all of you.

Edited to add: I just saw the evacuation area, it's huge, I hope there are not many homes there!

[joshcryer]

33. I feel for these fire fighters, in the fire zone visiblity is near zero.

Breathing is almost impossible. These men and women are heroes, and have no doubt, women are quite involved in fighting this fire, I hear them on the dispatch regularly (and they're not dispatchers, they're fire fighters).

[Spazito]

34. They are, indeed, true heroes!

Everyone fighting this deserves every accolade possible.

[joshcryer]

35. Fire fighters had to bug out 6 times, fire gained hard, lots of houses on fire.

The fire itself is so hot it's creating its own weather.

[kentuck]

36. Someone took this photo from N. Academy at Chapel Hills Mall...

This is a very large area..

[joshcryer]

37. :( I updated the OP with new video of the flames on the neighborhood.

[kentuck]

39. This is the most awesome thing I have ever seen.

It's indescribable.

[joshcryer]

43. It's certainly awe inspiring. Nature can be so unpredictable. It gives one pause.

The speed at which this fire changed its behavior is just impossible to really wrap ones head around. KKTV has done an amazing job covering this.

[marlakay]

40. Anyone know about Monument area?

my daughter just moved there…husband in air force.

[kentuck]

44. Monument is a few miles north of the Air Force Academy...

and has a lot of nice homes in the woods...

[marlakay]

55. Called my daughter

fire is 15 miles away and across the freeway she thinks she is fine but they are taking people out of homes on base, she is taking in some people...

[joshcryer]

42. There's a briefing on now, but I missed a chunk of it.

http://www.kktv.com/video/live

"This fire has some very scary attributes. I think today was a very eye-opening experience." There was a lot of pressure from the community to allow people back in to get their stuff (at the 8AM briefing it was announced this very neighborhood that is burning was going to have people return to get stuff, that return was cancelled, however, for good reason).

[kentuck]

45. The Sheriff just said they had evacuated 32,000 people...

that is a lot!

[joshcryer]

46. A bit of a push by the community to get the army involved. They say they can't do that.

Simply because they need to be trained. Takes 40 hours to train them. One person asked, "If they can go to war why can't they fight a fire?" Lots of clapping. I understand where the Tier 1 guy is coming from, you can't have people not trained to fight something. But they should still be pushing to train them as best they can.

[XemaSab]

47. When there were firestorms up here

they were hiring people off the street to drive trucks, bring supplies, do paperwork, and whatever else.

Apparently back in the day here they used to flag people down on the road and impress them into service fighting fires.

Sounds like an "all hands" situation.

[joshcryer]

50. Some guy asked about delegation and who was in charge (ie, who to blame).

Basically he wanted to know who was running the show. The guy said "We all are." While listening to the fire fighter feed it really was like that, there was no "commander" telling them where to go. They were making moment by moment decisions. They can't see the entire picture at once, but they can each and every one of them make decisions that will help you understand the picture after the fact.

The guy's question was just petulant bitching. He should've asked, instead, "What can I do to help?"

The volunteerism here is already epic, Care and Share (a public food hamper for Southern Colorado) got so much food in the first day it was great (hell, they probably already met their quota for the entire year). They don't really need those kinds of assets, what they need, basically, is for the plebs to gtfo of the way and stop bitching and let them do their job.

This fire is going to take at least a month to put out, that's how bad it is, the terrain it's in is just a fucked area. You can't get to it. It's burning the entire ridge. There's only one road that goes across it, Rampart Range, but it already jumped that road so I can't conceive of how they can draw the lines.

I'm tempted to volunteer but I work for a corporate overlord and they wouldn't save my job for me I'd bet. And I suck anyway.

[Tsiyu]

48. Unbelievable

Keep us updated, CO Duers.

And stay safe.

[distantearlywarning]

49. Nearly my entire family lives there.

They are all safe as of tonight, thank goodness.

I spent 4 years myself in Colorado Springs, and am very familiar with some of the areas affected.

I am amazed that this is not a bigger story - the Springs is basically burning down tonight, tens of thousands of people displaced from their homes in a US city, but CNN is just talking about political bullshit.

[joshcryer]

51. KKTV and KRDO have been on the air 24/7 since Saturday. Digital TV is amazing.

They flipped their weather channels to the regular channel and made the regular channel their 24/7 coverage channel. It's great.

What's crazy is that at 4PM they were having a briefing, by 4:30 the fire started moving into Mountain Shadows. By 6PM it was already burning homes. We're talking about 5 miles of ground it covered in that period of time. It's crazy.

[joshcryer]

52. Douglas Valley evacuated (AFA), Pine Valley was evacuated earlier, but Douglas is now...

...under mandatory evacuation. Wow. It's going to be a long night.

[fishwax]

53. yikes -- looks awful

A lot of Colorado is burning

[joshcryer]

54. Gov. John Hickenlooper flying in, will speak soon.

I have to afk though so I can't do a play by play.

I voted for John Hickenlooper. We won by about 6k votes. One of the races where my vote and canvassing mattered.

[joshcryer]

56. Numerous reports of gas leaks according to the Fired Department Feed.

http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/?action=wp&feedId=34

[joshcryer]

57. Fireman just asked if the utilities have the ability to turn off gas to a specific area.

[cbdo2007]

73. It says on the city website that the utility company will be doing this....

so individual residents do not need to turn off their gas when evacuating.

[Odin2005]

58. Jesus Christ!

[intheflow]

59. Josh, I'm so sorry for your town!

I'm north of Denver, on the plains a bit, but between the High Park fire and the Flagstaff Fire, it's been a terrible and terrifying summer so far. I'm so sorry you have to go through this.

[Blue_In_AK]

60. How's the air in Denver, ITF?

You know we're going to be there Friday morning. Littleton, actually.

[intheflow]

80. Air is fine here.

Maybe a little crustier than usual, but hard to tell with the smog blanket that hangs over the city on summer days anyway. Are we getting together when you're here?

[Blue_In_AK]

88. We hope to.

I've got your number and will give you a buzz. Saturday's out because that's the party day, but we'll be around until next Thursday, I think.

[joshcryer]

63. Don't feel for me, I'm chillin' just following it. Feel for the fighters!

They're heroes of epic proportions. They are fighting hell fire. It's almost 11PM and 82 degrees. For Colorado Springs this is unheard of, even in the middle of the summer (it usually drops to 65 by this time).

[intheflow]

81. I feel for everyone.

Firefighters, homeowners, evacuees, pets, wild animals. The City's collective sense of self. This is a swift and brutal fire.

[joshcryer]

82. All of my clothes smell like campfire smoke. I feel for all the people with asthma or...

...other respiratory issues.

[intheflow]

85. I work at the Denver library.

Have had people come in for cards to take out books to tie them over while evacuating. One guy told me they had to evacuate b/c of his asthmatic daughter, age 6.

[joshcryer]

86. One suggestion for people to get away from the smoke was the mall or library.

I know the library here was packed with people, but that's usually the case since it's their only way to get internet (live in a poor neighborhood). I'm sure it was a welcome relief.

The smoke has died down considerably tonight and it's the first night since Saturday I could have my window open! It's currently 77 degrees out but it's still better than the 85 my apartment is!

[fizzgig]

66. that is unbelievable

i'm up in fort collins, just got home and checked the news.

last few days have been pretty good up here, looks like they've made good progress everywhere except to the southeast, all beetle kill and rough terrain.

boulder's on fire, too. and there is no relief in the forecast.

i feel an awful lot like crying right now.

[joshcryer]

67. Army of ambulances at the K-Mart on N. Nevada (for those familiar with the area):

Unbelievable.

[lakercub]

69. That K-Mart

is about a mile from where I live. Luckily I'm east of this beast by UCCS. The biggest problem we've had is the smoke. However, I work up north (next door to the Oracle building and I had a ringside seat to some of the flames spouting up this evening behind the Academy. I decided to wait and watch while the interstate was closed and the Academy could be in big trouble tomorrow depending on the winds. Absolutely surreal.

I understand they evacuated western Holland Park in the last couple of hours. They were saying 32000 evacuees around 7-8 PM, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they pushing 40000 now. That's almost ten percent of this city. It's a nightmare.

[joshcryer]

70. Best of luck lakercub, I'm on the east side, worst thing I deal with is gang violence.

I want some breakfast at Big Train now, but it's out of my way. I used to eat there a lot when my brother lived over there on North Nevada (Sunset Creek; I actually lived there for 5 years).

[joshcryer]

68. KKTV photo journalists' house likely burned down. :(

It was on the other side of the line and everything on the west of Flying W. Road is considered lost.

[joshcryer]

71. Kick for updates in OP...

[Spazito]

72. Kicking back to top

hoping they are getting some control on the fire.

[SammyWinstonJack]

74. ...

[kentuck]

75. here is a photo taken about 3 miles away...

[liberal N proud]

76. Have not heard the status of my brothers home

It has been crazy this week with my daughter in the Tampa area with tornado's and flooding while this is going on too.

[joshcryer]

78. Springs Gov has a "Fire Notification Form." Have your brother fill it out...

Last edited Thu Jun 28, 2012, 02:58 AM - Edit history (1)

...and they will contact him about the state of their home / business: http://www.springsgov.com/

[joshcryer]

77. A bit of rain is moving in but it's bringing wind, so hopefully it'll work out. 20-25MPH winds.

[pstokely]

83. Where is the Focus on the Family HQ?

Will gawd save it?

[joshcryer]

84. No where near there. And please take that out of here.

Thanks.

[agentS]

87. Weather Underground Forecast for Colorado Springs

Thursday

Partly cloudy with a chance of a thunderstorm and a chance of rain in the afternoon. High of 34C. Winds from the NNW at 10 to 15 km/h shifting to the East in the afternoon. Chance of rain 20% with rainfall amounts near 1.3 mm possible.
Thursday Night

Partly cloudy with a chance of a thunderstorm and a chance of rain. Low of 19C. Windy. Winds from the WSW at 5 to 20 km/h. Chance of rain 20% with rainfall amounts near 0.8 mm possible.
Friday

Clear in the morning, then partly cloudy. High of 34C. Windy. Winds from the SSW at 10 to 20 km/h. Chance of rain 20%.
Friday Night

Partly cloudy with a chance of a thunderstorm and a chance of rain in the evening, then clear with a chance of a thunderstorm and a chance of rain. Low of 19C. Winds less than 5 km/h. Chance of rain 20% with rainfall amounts near 0.5 mm possible.
Saturday

Clear in the morning, then partly cloudy. High of 34C. Winds from the NNW at 5 to 15 km/h shifting to the ENE in the afternoon.
Saturday Night

Partly cloudy in the evening, then clear. Low of 16C. Winds from the SE at 5 to 15 km/h.

Don't expect much help from the weather this week, folks.

Monday Night

Clear with a chance of rain. Low of 16C. Winds from the WNW at 5 to 10 km/h. Chance of rain 20% with rainfall amounts near 1.0 mm possible.
Tuesday

Mostly cloudy with a chance of a thunderstorm. High of 34C. Breezy. Winds from the NNW at 15 to 20 km/h shifting to the East in the afternoon. Chance of rain 30% with rainfall amounts near 3.3 mm possible.
Tuesday Night

Partly cloudy with a chance of a thunderstorm. Low of 16C. Winds from the North at 5 to 20 km/h shifting to the WNW after midnight. Chance of rain 70% with rainfall amounts near 24.1 mm possible.
Wednesday

Partly cloudy. High of 34C. Breezy. Winds from the SSW at 10 to 25 km/h.
Wednesday Night

Mostly cloudy with a chance of a thunderstorm. Low of 16C. Winds from the South at 5 to 15 km/h shifting to the West after midnight. Chance of rain 30% with rainfall amounts near 3.8 mm possible.

Tuesday; they have to hold out until Tuesday. It's gonna be tough.

[kentuck]

89. Here is one of the latest aerial images..

http://director.denverpost.com/p.php?a=YnN%2BZXxrbmFta2dxIzQwJUhaUSswODIuPjY5LTcmNzkiPjgmJjo%2FMTonNyMoMScyJiMrPDs%3D&m=1340840729

[joshcryer]

90. That's a shame. Some of those houses lost look like they were from jumpers.

Or as they call them "hot spots." That's really a shame. Debris flew into those side neighborhoods and burned the whole street before they could be put out, as far as I can tell.

[joshcryer]

91. 346 houses lost, all people affected can go to a meeting tonight.

Last edited Thu Jun 28, 2012, 08:36 PM - Edit history (1)

No people allowed who aren't affected.

Grief counselors will be available.

For the "most conservative city in the country" they sure are being damn compassionate.