The Waldo Canyon Fire Thread

Bellum_Intus said:

Oh good lord... President Obummer will be 'visiting' us here in the Springs on Friday..

We don't want him here.. stay at the ... lol... the forum doesn't like me calling it the ... bag.... house ok?

--Rob

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Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Unless he's coming to pick up a fire hose or lend tangible support to evacuees, he can just stay out of the AO. People losing their homes and livelihoods aren't some kind of tourist attraction.

Polynikes said:

Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Unless he's coming to pick up a fire hose or lend tangible support to evacuees, he can just stay out of the AO. People losing their homes and livelihoods aren't some kind of tourist attraction.

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Then again, he's been driving THAT bus for the last 4 years right? So nothing new.

Flame front advancing into houses again, according to scanner traffic.

Colorado Springs burned last night

Saturday, when the fire was only a few hundred acres:





Monday night, it topped one of the ridges briefly:



Then last night (Tuesday) a fierce wind from the West drove it into Western Colorado Springs:





O2

Howdy Folks!
We got rain in Aurora today. I only pray that a good dose of it fell down by Colorado Springs to help save some homes.
And more for Flagstaff too.

This has been the most intense fire season in Colorado history, so far as I can discern.
And what's up with 5 days above 100 degrees in June for crying out loud?
We've set records for temperature and the number of hot days all in a row for this time of year.
Normally, at this point in June, average temperatures ought to be in the 80s. Not 105!!!

Some folks claim climate change is a myth. All I can say is things are much different now than when I was growing up!
Very much different. Old timers speak of it, climatologists insist on it, politicians deny it.
All I know is we've never seen things of this ilk before, and I hope never do again.

When I first came to Colorado, better than 50 years ago, it was so beautiful it squeezed your heart.
Now that squeeze is tinged with the immense feeling we are losing our most precious treasure.

And again, I'm going to consult with the Higher Ups for an end to this disaster.

Blessings,
M-Taliesin

On scanner:
2041 hrs
Kids playing with lighters starting small fire in COS.... morons..


--Rob

Bellum_Intus said:

On scanner:
2041 hrs
Kids playing with lighters starting small fire in COS.... morons..


--Rob

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We used to live in Idaho. Some kids trying to burn grasshoppers with a magnifying glass caught the entire mountainside on fire. It was right across the street from our house. People were not happy.

When I was much younger, I was with my family visiting the Devils Head Fire Lookout up on Rampart Range Rd when the guy working it spotted a fire a couple miles west of Woodland Park, which is exactly where our subdivision is...we make it home and find out a couple kids playing with matches burned a couple acres that came dangerously close to several houses, and few hundred yards from my parents house....might have something to do with why I later became a firefighter...

Scanner:
2120 hrs

Cheyenne Mnt HS reporting a possible fire on top / near Cheyenne Mountian.. =S

--Rob

( I bet its just blinking lights )


Scanner:
2245 hrs
Will Rogers Shrine - unknown fire - "just south of the shrine"

Update: Will Rogers Shrine.. was a street light..
I guess people are still on pins and needles..

Polynikes said:

My family was among those at the base of the mountains that was placed under mandatory evac yesterday. We were literally watching flames coming down the mountain toward us as we drove away. We are still unsure as to the status of our home (just purchased and fully renovated in October of last year) at this time.

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Oh lord.. Please let us know if everything is ok!

--Rob

Do any of you guys use radio reference.com to listen to scanner feeds? Would be interested if someone could provide a link

aerial photos of Flying W Ranch are heartbreaking.. I'm going to bed..

--Rob

Obama Cuts Tanker Fleet.

Taliesin, climate change really? I think its called summer.
http://www.nationalreview.com/artic...aucrats-are-fueling-wildfires-michelle-malkin
http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/monckton/goreerrors.html



Ten years ago, the feds had a fleet of 44 firefighting planes. Today, the number is down to nine for the entire country. Last summer, Obama’s National Forest Service canceled a key federal contract with Sacramento-based Aero Union just as last season’s wildfires were raging. Aero Union had supplied eight vital air tankers to Washington’s dwindling fleet of aerial firefighters. Two weeks later, the company closed down and 60 employees lost their jobs. Aero Union had been a leader in the business for a half-century.

Bellum_Intus said:

Oh lord.. Please let us know if everything is ok!

--Rob

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We are still displaced, but comfortable in a friends house on the east side of town. Looking at the infrared maps that have been released and following the scanner traffic, it appears that fire crews successfully held the fire line west of our neighborhood yesterday, but we may not be in the clear yet. We're still just taking this a day at a time.

Tacitus42 said:

Taliesin, climate change really? I think its called summer.
http://www.nationalreview.com/artic...aucrats-are-fueling-wildfires-michelle-malkin
ero Union had been a leader in the business for a half-century.

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Howdy Pardner!
I ain't even gonna start refuting the abundant evidence contrary to your opinion. I would end up spending a great deal of time off topic.
Just as this really isn't the appropriate time to wax a particular political agenda either.
This is about the fires that are devastating some of our most beloved landmarks in Colorado.
It is about citizens of Colorado losing their homes. Hundreds of them.
It is about our friends and neighbors who are having their lives and businesses disrupted in ways too profound for most of us to imagine.
It is about the heroic efforts of fire fighters and law enforcement standing on the front lines of the most dangerous summer fire season in the history of this state.
It is about the volunteers who have arrived from all over the United States to help the citizens of Colorado.
It is about hard, hot, facts of what's happening here; now; today.
The one almost fantastic positive in all of this is that only one person (that is known about) has lost their life despite the most destructive fire season in the history of Colorado.
At least 11 fires burning across the state. From the state line fire to Waldo Canyon, Elbert County to Flagstaff, Little Sands to Weber, the High Park and Treasure fires, and plenty more besides... it is about nothing, I repeat, nothing ever seen here before. Officials fighting the fire said it would not have helped if they had dozens of air tankers, because this is like nothing they've ever seen in their lives.

What is important here, and I'd like to redirect focus upon, is the situation we face in Colorado.
Not personal opinions. Not political agendas. Not irrelevant observations of folks who are not here watching from an "up close" and "personal" perspective.
It is about Colorado and her people. It is about the folks on the front lines of the defense of towns and cities threatened with imminent peril.
It is about places like Boulder, Colorado Springs, Woodland Park, Estes Park, Pagosa Springs, Leadville, Mancos, and others like Chapita Park and Green Mountain Falls.
All while we witness temperatures that break records on a nearly daily basis, meaning we ain't seen those before either. Not in June.

So let us remember what this is about.
We can argue other perspectives later.
This ain't the time.
We are presently at war, and the battle is far from over.
And our enemy is relentless and incredibly powerful.
Our military are in the fight, and even the mighty C-130s can be seen dropping retardant.
Even with their help, we continue to lose ground.
As one news commentator said, observing the devastation near Colorado Springs,
"This place looks like Hiroshima!"
And in the time it took for me to write this, the Waldo fire is blowing up again, threatening more homes, more citizens, more landmarks.
Garden of the Gods is in imminent peril.

And I personally repent any remark of mine that distract from our purpose.

Let us all focus on what is really important here.
The people of Colorado, the men and women who have taken up their defense,
and the preservation of what remains.

Blessings,
M-Taliesin

Couple photos from yesterday for those who haven't seen them.

The Air Force Academy is a couple miles north of our neighborhood. The burned homes are in the Flying W area, just slightly southeast of us.

Polynikes said:

We are still displaced, but comfortable in a friends house on the east side of town. Looking at the infrared maps that have been released and following the scanner traffic, it appears that fire crews successfully held the fire line west of our neighborhood yesterday, but we may not be in the clear yet. We're still just taking this a day at a time.

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Does your entire house have a view to the East? If so, PM me with your address or even better a Google maps with a pointer to your house I might be able to get a shot of it or at least your area.

I did the following for a friend:



O2

Polynikes said:

We are still displaced, but comfortable in a friends house on the east side of town. Looking at the infrared maps that have been released and following the scanner traffic, it appears that fire crews successfully held the fire line west of our neighborhood yesterday, but we may not be in the clear yet. We're still just taking this a day at a time.

Click to expand...

I will pray for you and your family! Just hang in there and keep us posted. Let me know if there's anything I can do for you.

Blessings,

Keens

346 homes confirmed destroyed..

If you have pictures, send them to LE esp the early ones. They are looking at them all to find out exactly where it started..

--Rob