Colorado Springs fire

[BBR]

Anybody in the path?!?!?!

I think CTX-SLPR lives there, right?

[JOES66FURY]

My buddys wife and kids are there, he is at Maxwell AFB in Alabama...Waiting to hear from him to see how they are...what a freaking mess.

[SuperBuickGuy]

my neice just moved from there (seriously, like last week) - her old apartment is now cinder.

[BOOOGHAR]

I know the air force academy has been evacuated, as well as the housing around the academy, my wife whos from that area has alot of friends who have been posting pics of the fire on her FB page and I was looking at them last night, some scary shit going on up there right now, my wife called me earlier and told me hwy 24 is closed due to the fires, thats the road that goes thru manitou springs and goes to the base of pikes peak, as of right now from what she was told the hill climb race is postponed

[Blazerteam]

The news are all over the world about this,and the photos taken near the cities,look wild and dangerous..

[1cheapstreet]

We here in Colorado are just asking for prayers for those that have lost everything, those that have been evacuated and those that are fighting all of the fires in our state.

Linda

[DanStokes]

We send all our best Positive Energy. ME has an Aunt in Arvada (suburban Denver) and so far they're OK but who knows how this will end up. She's like 91/92 and I sure hope she doesn't have to start all over. Tough at any age but especially at her age.

Dan

[Deaf Bob]

Colorado wildfire too dangerous to assess damage, thousands evacuated
By P. SOLOMON BANDA and LYNN DeBRUIN Associated Press June 27, 2012 8:46AM
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Obama will tour Colorado region devastated by fires, thank firefighters
Updated: June 27, 2012 2:46PM

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Heat and flames from a destructive wildfire threatening Colorado’s second-largest city were far too intense Wednesday morning for authorities to fully assess the damage it caused overnight.

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Officials don’t know how many houses have been destroyed in the towering blaze that has forced mandatory evacuations for more than 32,000 residents, Colorado Springs emergency management director Brett Waters said. Among those urgently evacuated Tuesday evening were residents at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

The blaze doubled in size overnight to about 24 square miles, fire information officer Rob Dyerberg said.

Heavy smoke and ash billowed from the mountain foothills west of the city. Bright yellow and orange flames flared in the night, often signaling another home lost to the Waldo Canyon Fire, the No. 1 priority for the nation’s firefighters.

“It was like looking at the worst movie set you could imagine,” Gov. John Hickenlooper said after flying over the 9-square-mile fire late Tuesday. “It’s almost surreal. You look at that, and it’s like nothing I’ve seen before.”

With flames cresting a ridge high above its scenic, 28-square-mile campus, the Air Force Academy told more than 2,100 residents to evacuate 600 households.

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A curtain of flame and smoke hung above the academy’s Falcon Stadium; billowing gray clouds formed a backdrop to its aluminum, glass and steel Cadet Chapel, an icon of the academy. Elsewhere, police officers directing traffic and fleeing residents covered their faces with T-shirts and bandanas to breathe through the smoke.

“People are freaking out,” Kathleen Tillman told The Denver Post. “You are driving through smoke. It is completely pitch black, and there is tons of ash dropping on the road.”

Colorado Springs Fire Chief Richard Brown echoed her sentiment, saying, “This is a firestorm of epic proportions.”

Thunderstorms are expected near the blaze in the afternoon, but incident commander Rich Harvey says they could bring unpredictable winds that would hinder firefighters’ efforts near the city of 419,000 people.

The fire is about 5 percent contained, Harvey said.

Throughout the interior West, firefighters have toiled for days in searing, record-setting heat against fires fueled by prolonged drought. Most, if not all, of Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana were under red flag warnings, meaning extreme fire danger.

In central Utah, authorities found one woman dead Tuesday when they returned to an evacuated area. It marked the first casualty in the blaze that authorities said Wednesday burned down 56 structures, the majority of which are homes.

Sanpete County sheriff’s officials said they hadn’t identified the victim, whose remains were found during a damage assessment of the 60-square-mile Wood Hollow Fire near Indianola.

The nation is experiencing “a super-heated spike on top of a decades-long warming trend,” said Derek Arndt, head of climate monitoring at the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.

Elsewhere in Colorado, the 136-square-mile High Park Fire has destroyed 257 homes, authorities said. That fire was triggered by lightning June 9.

And elsewhere in the West:

— A fire that charred nearly 70 square miles west of Ruidoso, N.M., was 90 percent contained, with many residents allowed to return home.

— A wildfire north of Helena, Mont., destroyed four homes and forced additional evacuations. Gov. Brian Schweitzer issued a state of emergency for four counties.

— A wildfire in the Bridger-Teton National Forest grew from about 300 acres to 2,000 acres Tuesday, marking the first major wildfire of the season in western Wyoming.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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[CTX-SLPR]

I'm alright, we are south and east of the fire so no danger yet and not likely to be since we are far enough away from the mountains. One of my guys and 2 of my wife's friends have been evacuated though no reports of them loosing thier homes. It's scarey how fast it moves with the thunderstorms we've had the last 2 days.

[oldsman71]

what about bamfster Dan?

[Barry Donovan]

quite a horror show.

I get frustrated reading of a house getting taken...wondering why they can't just localize a platoon of water until the blaze goes by, until I saw how freakishly fast and beyond human it is to be coming at you.

A plus to this, when events get this big, federal steps in. We all step in.

[Deaf Bob]

I've been around grass fires and slash burns.. They move fast and hot under control..
To try to imagine uncontrolled is not possible...
There was one a few years ago that was visable from the farm.. Maybe 20 miles away by road, 10-15 as the crow flies...
Drove up to look after it was out.. Really small area... Those in Colorado are massive.. Scary..
Hope it is out soon!

[SuperBuickGuy]

quite a horror show.

I get frustrated reading of a house getting taken...wondering why they can't just localize a platoon of water until the blaze goes by, until I saw how freakishly fast and beyond human it is to be coming at you.

A plus to this, when events get this big, federal steps in. We all step in.

I worked for the forest service fighting (okay, we were supposed to fight fires, but none happened) fires. You can't put enough water on the fire to prevent it from burning. Water puts out the fire by 1) depriving it of oxygen, 2) cooling the air to reduce the flash point, and 3) prevents reignition by cooling the temperature of the fuel to below its flash point. In a big fire, water simple evaporates before it it gets close enough to put the fire out - and doesn't reduce the flash point enough to slow or stop the fire.

Now that said, they do have gels that adhere water to the house to keep it from combusting, but those only work in specific situations - and I suspect the fires in Colorado are outside that situation.

They need cooler temperatures, 100+ degree temps would make that fire nearly impossible to stop.

Oh yes, and some people have put sprinkles on their house, turned them on and came back to the sprinkles spraying water over the ashes of their house.... nice idea, but not enough - most fires are hot enough to melt glass

[BOOOGHAR]

bamfster was/is north of the fire

[CTX-SLPR]

There is a fire up in the Boulder area but nothing threatening Denver proper. This is very much a C-Springs and West fie for now though if the winds get crazy again it can travel north in a hurry.