I thought there is a member here from Colorado Springs; and if so, could he or she “pop on” or PM me with late news of your friendly neighborhood forest fires. My daughter Jessie (the “Once a Marine, Always a Marine” Wife - not the former Army Sgt) and her now civilian husband are living up there. She keeps posting pictures on her FB account and more hair turns gray on my head.
I’m used to fires near little towns deep in the woods of the White Mountains of AZ - the kind where you see orange on the horizon and you don’t sleep at night because you’re up listening to the fire scanner. Around Yuma, especially this time of year, a giant plume of smoke usually means that somebody is burning off 80+ acres of wheat stubble; and when that’s gone it’s all over, because sand just doesn’t burn all that well.
I know that Colorado Springs is a good-sized city; but is “on the other side of town” really that far away, or should I be loading up a U-Haul and a trailer to help the kids and Charlie’s Dad (another Former Marine) evacuate the family?
Depends on where in town they live. It is a whopper of a fire and anything above Manitou Springs and below Woodland Park is in evacuation. It looks so far like they have been able to save every single building but that can change with the wind. We went to Manitou this evening to support the local restaurants and when we left we stood in front of the restaurant and watched the fire quite close to us. Trees were crowning in spectacular fashion. The fire is still quite active and dynamic. Highway 24, the towns of Cascade, Green Mountain Falls & Divide as well as the Colorado Springs neighborhoods of Cedar Heights and some of Mountain Shadows have been completely evacuated. All of the large city parks are closed because crowds were gathering there to watch the fire and the city is afraid they will set another one by accident in the park and they don’t want to have to fight yet another fire. Smoke is kind of tough on occasion but for the most part it is blowing away from town. Our temps are approaching 100 and that has not helped along with single digit humidity.
Stats; 4500 acres burned, 5% contained, 600 personnel fighting the fire. The map is here.
Population density is much, much greater in the Colorado Springs area when compared to the Wallow fire. My brother-in-law lived in Nutrioso. Currently the fire has moved into the Mountain Shadows area and is in the process of burning it down. It is quickly moving toward the AF Academy and it is now being evacuated. Have you ever visited the Flying W Ranch? It is gone. My offices are in Mountain Shadows and have been evacuated, electricity and gas turned off and it may be days before we can get back in there to see if we remain standing or not. I25 southbound is closed through the Springs. I24 is closed. All of Northwest Colorado Springs is in evacuation. The firefighters say it is a Historically epic fire. 32,000 evacuees looking for a place to stay tonight.
So far Roy, the winds get to decide where this fire goes. My business partners home is in the evac area and his neighborhood was hit heavily by fire yesterday evening, we do not yet know his property status. No injury or death reported thus far for evacuee’s or fire fighting personnel - very fortunate in that regard.
Jeff, I knew there was somebody on here from the Springs. Aren’t you the guy who had a video of your trip though the Garden of the Gods?
Anyhoo, not only are Jessie and Charlie and his folks safe “for the moment”; they’ve brought an evacuee family into their home and have made temporary housing arrangements for Cadets from the AF Academy. News this afternoon was saying that only the family quarters were cleared, but it sounds like the barracks were at least partially cleaned out as well from what I’m hearing “unoffically”.
As far as their location, hhhh? Never been there, kinda clueless as to the geography. Dig out your Rand-McNalley; wherever you find “Mushroom Rock Court”, that’s where they live.
(Love that street name, every time I see it or hear it; I can’t help but think that they who named it did so right before going on a massive Dorito raid.)
So, from the way her vids are popping up; it looks like I’m just an Old Guy worrying about my kids who aren’t really kids anymore - again.
That is the kind of place Colorado Springs is… we won’t be asking for or waiting for FEMA or anyone else to save us. This city is tight.
They will be fine, they are in the part of COS that requires you to have Kansas plates on your vehicle. They need to worry more about tornado’s.
Yes, highway 24 from Colorado Springs to Woodland Park is also known as Ute Pass. The fire “backed” into 24 but so far the fire line at 24 has held and the fire has stayed most active to the North, East and West. The evacuation of 32,000 people was an amazing feat and all kudos go to our city and county for practicing and planning for such an event. No casualties thus far is truly amazing. They are predicting containment around July 16th if weather cooperates.
A little trivia; Ever since a historical record has been maintained of Colorado Springs weather the temperatures have reached 100 degrees only 5 times, and never have been higher than 100. This week, the temperature reached 100 degrees twice and on Tuesday the day the fire hit the homes it reached 101; highest temperature on record. That is 3 times in one week alone compared to just 5 times in recorded history.
No wonder Jessie was joking about folks up there “hiding away” because of the heat over the last couple of weeks. She was the first of our kids to be born here in Yuma, and we hit 101* about 10:30-11:00 this morning.
Jessie told me from the outset that they lived “…on the other side of town”; but it’s nice to get confirmation of that factoid from somebody who’s lived there more than 15 months. Thank you!
Just ran across this Time-Lapse video, covers 5 days in 16 minutes. Rather dramatic music score as well if you have good speakers. Watch in full screen if possible, you’ll need to watch on YouTube to do that.
