F. P. Dorchak

Speculative Fiction (New Weird) Author

Mountain Shadows

Waldo Canyon Fire Revisited

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This video was created by videographer, Renette Saba-Jones. who had been contracted by the US Forest Service to document wildfires for use in training and education. Renette captured footage of the Waldo Canyon Fire after it made its run into Colorado Springs, Colorado and soon destroyed the West Side Mountain Shadows Community. She later put out a call for anyone who had any photos or video, so she could compile the completed video above. She did an outstanding job. I was surprised at the emotion that still welled up in me, the tears, as I watched this video (for a couple days we were on pre-evac notice, had both our vehicles packed up and ready to immediately leave…but never had to). On that fateful day when the fire burned up and over Queen’s Canyon from the 65 mph winds, myself and some other neighbors stood at the end of a street, watching it, and later, we had burned out debris drifting into our yard as large as 6 – 8 inches. No embers, just burned out debris. Our neighborhood was undamaged.

Here is a link to this video and some smaller clips.

The Waldo Canyon Fire raged from June 23 – July 10, 2012, and cost 346 homes and 2 lives.

The cause of the fire is still undetermined, though it was determined to have been human caused.

Rebuilding is well underway in Mountain Shadows, which is so nice to see, and the foothills burn areas had been mulched the end of last year…but there is still great concern for possible flooding this year.

Thank you, Renette, for all your excellent work on this video, and for sending this our way. And again, thank you to all who had been involved in fighting this fire. You have our undying gratitude.

InciWeb link

Waldofire.org link

Links from my posts on the fire:

Click here for Waldo Canyon Fire – Days 1 and 2.

Click here for Waldo Canyon Fire – Day 3.

Click here for Waldo Canyon Fire – Day 4.

Click here for Waldo Canyon Fire – Day 5.

Waldo Canyon Fire – Day 4

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I’m writing this on Day 5, and actually have some free time, but we are on a pre-evacuation notice, which means be ready to split in 30 minutes or so. We currently have developing storms that may or may not impact the fire. We’d need 3/4 to an inch of rain. One cell coming over Pikes Peak is hoping to be one with more rain to impact the burn.

Yesterday, day 4 of the fire, was a hugely impacting day, where the blaze tripled in size, fired up and over Queen’s Canyon, and down into Colorado Springs, where all hell broke loose.

I–along with a handful of others–watched the fire from our neighborhood streets, as it burned down Queen’s Canyon eastern slope. There were near blackout conditions from the smoke as well as from the burn out that caused the total evac of Mountain Shadows, which included those we know. I was told by one of them that she actually felt the heat of the wildfire as she was evacuating her home. From our home, I stood outside watched as flames burned down the eastern slope of Queen’s Canyon, not far from Mountain Shadows. Tons of smoke, and throughout the evening, as I continually checked our property for falling embers, I found enough charred debris (found a burned aspen leaf) falling that I turned on the sprinklers and hosed down our fences and other areas I thought needed it. Later, at night, choppers with bright spots cut down through the heavily smoky air and made several low passes around the mesa east of us.

What had happened was that a storm northwest of the fire headed into the blaze, while strong winds from the south-east and south-west all pummeled the fire at the same time. The storm north of the blaze let loose 65-mph outflow winds that, combined with the southern winds, forced the fire east, and into Mountain Shadows and adjacent  areas. Officials said that it didn’t matter how many resources would have been positioned, the fire storm was simply too powerful and was flat-out unstoppable. There is still no definitive assessment of the amount of lost homes, but the video is heartbreaking.

KKTV link.

KKTV fire update link.

Click here for Waldo Canyon Fire – Days 1 and 2.

Click here for Waldo Canyon Fire – Day 3.

Click here for Waldo Canyon Fire – Day 5.

Click here for Waldo Canyon Fire – Day 6.

Click here for Waldo Canyon Fire Video Compilation.

Waldo Canyon Fire – Day 3

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If anyone has any information regarding the cause of the Waldo Canyon fire, please call 719/477-4205.

Click here for Waldo Canyon Fire – Days 1 and 2.

Twitter: #WaldoCanyonFire.

Here is the KKTV link. Excellent coverage, folks!

So far, no lives nor homes have been lost. As of this morning (I looked out a window at 3 a.m. and could see the fire’s glow), the fire has burned north from Waldo Canyon into Queen’s Canyon, continuing on its northerly direction into state forest land. It is about 5% contained (projected 100%containment of the fire is July 16th), and there are some 600 firefighters fighting the blaze that has consumed 4,500 acres. This morning the news said at one point flames are three miles away from Mountain Shadows, a residential area that has already been evacuated, but residents have been allowed back in. This is still an area of concern, if the flames run over and down the first ridge of Queen’s Canyon, into the depth of the canyon itself.

Also on the TV this morning, an airline pilot showed a shot of it he’d taken as he’d passed by it. He said the smoke plumes topped out at 33,000 feet and could be seen for 150 miles.

Last night we visited the Kissing Camel Overlook of Garden of the Gods to see what could be viewed from there of the fire (to be honest, I was also curious why authorities were concerned about people coming here to watch the fire/smoke plumes, since the media was uncharacteristically vague about why authorities were bothered, when I first heard this a couple days ago). It is normally a gorgeous view, as you will see below, but, yes, you can see plenty of smoke, and even a couple of instances of  flames (look closely at the three “20:20” time hack pictures, below). You can also see passing emergency vehicles. The concern appears to be that motorists and on-lookers will get in the way (the road is a little wider up there, with bike lanes added into the road, and everyone there was quite civil, gracious, and under control, not pulling U-turns and the like), and (I later heard) that maybe a brush fire might erupt from a tossed cigarette butt or something. I can see the bottleneck concern, but everyone pulled off as far as possible onto the shoulders and seemed quite responsible in policing their own actions. There were many who had come to see what was going on, the curiosity understandable. After all, once you get breathing room from an impending disaster, you want to try to understand it. See what it was that it or was hurtling your way. It’s only natural. So, I was pretty impressed with the amount of people, the restraint of people, the hushed awe and concern for the fire and those fighting it. There was no “carnival-like” atmosphere at all about it…these were people who were genuinely concerned about their welfare and their homes–and their neighbors’ homes. Some even shouted out “Thank you!” to the passing firefighters that drove by.

They simply wanted to see what the Big Monster looked like.

Click here for Waldo Canyon Fire – Days 1 and 2.

Click here for Waldo Canyon Fire – Day 4.

Click here for Waldo Canyon Fire – Day 5.

Click here for Waldo Canyon Fire – Day 6.

Click here for Waldo Canyon Fire Video Compilation.