Colorado Springs Wildfire

[Fast16Racer]

Scary stuff. My house is about 3 miles east of the fire. Hope it stays that way. My shop is about 4 miles SE.

32,000 evacuated. Fire went form 6,500 Acres last night to 15,000 this morning.

It's 100 degrees here BEFORE the heat of the fire, thanks to all that are fighting it.

'Mater member Ed Arcuri, if I remember correctly, lives in the neighborhood that the fire exploded through last night. Prayers go out to him and his family.

Was listening to the CSFD scanner last night as they were discussing which houses to try and save and which ones were already in flames or gone. Sad.

"Structure to structure ignition" was one term I heard.

 

[Fast16Racer]

 

[Fast16Racer]

 

[cdag]

That's horrible! Prayers go out to you and all that are affected by the fire.

 

[TR]

Amazing, how sad. Our company has one of their branches up there. Hope everything turns out for the good, but I heard there are fatalities already. God bless all of you in harms way.

Rick

 

[Baron]

It is very frightening. I was in that area of Colorado Springs yesterday - the Air Force Academy and Colorado Technical University - I am not able to describe the flames and smoke in a way sufficient to communicate what I saw.
My little old house is, most likely, gone as it was just across from the Flying W Ranch which we know is gone. I moved from there a couple of years ago.
My son, Eddie, has evacuated his family from Rockrimmon to Monument. My daughter lives further east and is also safe.
Colorado Springs is, in my opinion, the most beautiful and most livable medium sized city in the country. To see this destruction occurring and to know that the highly resourceful people of Colorado Springs have been powerless in its path, is heart rending.
The fire shows how urgently we need to rebuild the tanker fleet and engage in active thinning of the beetle kill trees in our forests. We are long past the time when Washington can ignore the need and long past the time when the over-regulation of forest maintenance can be allowed to continue.
Ed

 

[Fast16Racer]

Glad you and family are OK, Ed. I had a faint recollection you lived up in that area....but wasn't sure. Hope your son's home makes it.

 

[Jeff]

We had fires all around us last year. Amazing how I always know exactly which direction the wind is blowing now ... months of fear will burn that into you.

Now it is sad to drive through several of the forests around my area. Millions of burned trees still standing.

The smell of smoke is gone, and the new growth has started.

You will get to omit one remaining concern ... most of the dead trees are still standing, and it is almost impossible for the power companies to get the threatening trees cut from the secondary power lines (the ones nearer your neighborhood) ... and hurricane season is coming ....

Hang in there, be insured, and value human and animal lives...

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

Just watched the world news coverage on TV. UNBELIEVABLE The destruction and devastation, horrible.
May GOD bless all, in or near, the path of this monster.

 

[rckymtn3]

It is very frightening. I agree...probably the most frightening of natural disasters.....nothing makes you want to run the other direction quite like fire. Kudos to the brave firefighters and support crews that run into harms way. Colorado Springs is, in my opinion, the most beautiful and most livable medium sized city in the country. To see this destruction occurring and to know that the highly resourceful people of Colorado Springs have been powerless in its path, is heart rending.

I lived there for a good number of years, and it still ranks as one of my favorite places....beautiful country and wonderful people. i spoke to Bob Orme today as soon as I heard and he said there was ash on his house, but hadn't been evacuated yet. I send my best to all of those in the area and hope for your safety.

Amazing how I always know exactly which direction the wind is blowing now ... months of fear will burn that into you.

I was living between Paige and Bastrop, literally down the road from where that big fire started. Lost everything except what was in my Jeep. I can't tell you how right you are. It puts you on alert, that's for sure. You never view a huge stand of trees in a drought the same way, ever....

 

[Bubba]

Prayers for everyone affected by the disaster.

 

[Fast16Racer]

Thanks everyone. Yesterday was a better day for the firefighters and they are optimistic about gaining ground today.

As of 8:00 AM, 18,500 Acres, 5% contained, 1,200 firefighters on site.

You will get to omit one remaining concern ... most of the dead trees are still standing, and it is almost impossible for the power companies to get the threatening trees cut from the secondary power lines (the ones nearer your neighborhood) ... and hurricane season is coming ....

Hang in there, be insured, and value human and animal lives...

We had a weekend mountain house burn down in the Hayman Fire 10 years ago. Just put the finishing touches on rebuilding it last summer--9 years later! Thankfully we were insured (USAA was awesome!) and with a bunch of sweat equity we now have a Taj-Mahal in the hills!

Dead trees are still an issue up there. There has been a lot of work done to clear power line areas, but power goes out a lot up there and it is always a dead tree from the fire that downs a power line.

10 years later there is new growth, but it still looks like scorched earth in places. They say it will take 50 years for the forest to return. After 10 years, I doubt 50 will do it.....

 

[Bob]

Most of yesterday and so far today, things have been relatively quiet. After watching this monster explode Tuesday, the current quiet could change in a matter of minutes. There are now over 2,000 people fighting this fire. None of the mandatory evacuations have been lifted because this thing still has the potential to explode again. The fire's growth yesterday was the smallest it has been on any day since the weekend, and that is a good thing.

Something I consider to be miraculous is, thus far no injuries or fatalities have been reported. People have taken the evacuation notices seriously, and I'm sure that fact has saved some lives considering hundreds of homes have already burned. It is also amazing that no firefighters have been injured or killed, considering the rugged terrain they are dealing with while fighting this fire.

 

[Mary]

Saying prayers for all those affected by the fires...hope all will be safe

 

[Bob]

346 homes destroyed on 35 streets in the Mountain Shadows subdivision. My family business was gutted by fire in 1980 and to this day I vividly recall how personally devastating that experience was. My heart goes out to all of the families who lost their homes.

The weather today has been very positive for fire fighting efforts. Lower temps, higher humidity, calmer winds and even some rain this afternoon have all helped.

The current containment estimate is up to 10% based on aerial data. That number should increase as more information comes in from the crews on the ground. I'm cautiously optimistic that the worst of this disaster is behind us here in Colorado Springs.

 

[Baron]

I have confirmed that my (former) little house on Majestic Drive was one of the victims of the fire. It burned completely. Nothing left but ash and memories.
The blessing is that my family is safe.
Ed

 

[D]

I'm glad you guys are safe, its frustrating watching this go on at home from halfway around the world.

S/F
D

 

[bing]

Went through the same thing here a couple of years ago now in Australia only a couple of miles from my place, bush fires or wild fires are so destructive, I am sure alot of you would of heard what happened here on what was known as black saturday as it made headlines all over the world and cost almost 200 lives.

Please stay safe and remember, we can replace everything except for life. Take care.

 

[mw6789]

I have confirmed that my (former) little house on Majestic Drive was one of the victims of the fire. It burned completely. Nothing left but ash and memories.
The blessing is that my family is safe.
Ed

Our thoughts and prayers are with all of you suffering from this fire. God bless.

 

[Toejam]

Went through the same thing here a couple of years ago now in Australia only a couple of miles from my place, bush fires or wild fires are so destructive, I am sure alot of you would of heard what happened here on what was known as black saturday as it made headlines all over the world and cost almost 200 lives.

Please stay safe and remember, we can replace everything except for life. Take care.

I do remember that Bing, wasn't that the Worst Fire in History down there?