To say that it’s been a crazy week would be the understatement of the year…maybe the decade.
My email inbox started filling up on Tuesday with short notices from so many friends who were being evacuated and others on pre-evac. Cathy and I were watching the twice-daily fire briefings on KKTV which has suspended commercials and is covering the fire 24/7. I get the best info from Twitter – 15-20 minutes before the TV. We watched the fire roar down Queen’s Canyon behind the incident commander’s 4 p.m. briefing fearing the worst. Leslie and Allan brought some of their valuables to our house and checked into a hotel downtown when they were evacuated. The MG Club couldn’t reach Bob and Meg Rich or Susie and Rick Mills. The Macintosh Club’s president and three of our Board members fled their homes with little notice.
By Wednesday/Thursday, 32,500 people had been evacuated. The Flying W Ranch is GONE – burned to the ground. Chuck and Rita were notified their home was destroyed. Then we heard about Sarah Quals and Mike the owner of Rick’s Nursery. Lots more are presumed gone, but the fire is still raging, so they don’t know for sure.
When they pre-evacuated Pleasant Valley and Holland Park, we started packing up our small boxes of valuables so we’d be ready if the embers jumped I-25 and came roaring down Monument Valley Park. Chris and Doug in their new house in Woodland Park only a week are packed up and ready. They have evacuated everyone on the other side of their street!
Today, things have started to calm down a little. The weather is cooperating and the fire is about 40% contained. Rita saw a photo of her house. The lawn is green, the trees are standing as are her two white garage doors and their frame. EVERYTHING else is gray ash and cinders in the basement surrounded by their cement foundation. Only one house on her block survived. Chuck is in the hospital maybe with stress problems related to the fire. Things are really sad. Sarah was out of town at her mother’s funeral when her new home in Mountain Shadows burned. She hadn’t even unpacked yet.
Here are links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBA7eHY022k&sns=em spectacular time-lapse movie of the first 4+ days of the fire.
http://radiocoloradocollege.org/2012/07/a-digital-fly-over-of-the-waldo-canyon-fire/ digital flyover showing the perimeter of the fire.
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/07/colorado-wildfires-the-aftermath/100330/#
http://radiocoloradocollege.org/2012/07/in-the-cockpit/
http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2012/06/27/colorado-wildfires-waldo-canyon-fire-colorado-springs/5732/#more-5732 the most graphic shots from Tuesday.
From Gene: Guess your ‘log in’ for your web-site and my attempts are more like my problems with Mr Apple’s deal.
So to heck with that and this should work if the FB & I will allow it.
Good to find you are home in one piece and you have a home to return to. From the photos we have been watching this was close to disaster. We can learn a bunch from your experience e.g.: just what goes in a list of things to pack for an evacuation? You now are an expert. Hope all our friends are still with places to live.