F. P. Dorchak

Speculative Fiction (New Weird) Author

Queens Canyon

Waldo Canyon Fire – Day 5

by

Waldo Canyon Fire – Queen’s Canyon, Day 5

The Waldo Canyon fire is the number one fire in the United States right now.

15,324 acres burned.

32,500 evacuees.

Unknown amount of homes burned.

No new mandatory evacuations in Colorado Springs.

KKTV link.

KKTV fire update link.

KRDO Link.

View Active Burn Perimeter (KRDO.com).

Link to Home or Business Damage Notification.

Denver Post Aerial Views.   <— Excellent aerial perspective of damage.

Looks like I have some more time on our hands as we sit and wait to see what is to happen regarding any possible evac. Nothing appears forthcoming, and the gusty winds have stopped and earlier in the afternoon I saw no more flames/smoke plumes originating from Queen’s Canyon.

Today I stayed home to deal with the possibility of having to evacuate and looked for ways to help out. My displaced in-laws were safe and stable and needed no assistance, so, I checked in with some neighbors, and they were all good. I then made some calls and e-mails to volunteer organizations, but everyone had so many volunteers lines were busy, voice mails full.

I then inspected our property early in the morning and found numerous pieces of charred debris, some of them four or five inches long, by an inch or two wide. I continued to find charred debris throughout the day. Luckily, no embers, but the Queen’s Canyon fire is maybe a mile or more from us. From the two press conferences (8 and 4 p.m., MT), fire experts told how burning embers can not only drift a quarter-to-half a mile in distance, but with our dry air, here, there is a 65% chance of those embers, within that distance, continuing to burn once they land. In other words, for every 100 burning embers, 65 of them will set off another fire. Multiply that by the thousands of embers blowing around.

Today, I pulled out the binoculars and checked out the Queen’s Canyon area that I watched burn yesterday. Blackened and charred, as expected, but there were spot fires flaring up in the canyon itself, so choppers were heavily hitting them with buckets of water. The choppers were so close, we could see the spray of the water off the buckets as they zoomed past, overhead.

Just heard on the news that a new hotshot group out of Vandenberg is being deployed–smoke jumpers jumping out of C-17 Globemasters. The military has been actively involved with the fire fighting efforts. Four C-130 Modular Airborne FireFighting Systems (MAFFS) have been involved for a couple of days.

I just took another peak at Queen’s Canyon, and found that a small section of “The Scar” is actively

Chopper Crossing “The Scar”

burning, but The Scar is an ex-quarry that has no trees (well, maybe scrub oak) and is a re-seeded area of low-lying grasses. Also, the area looks “cleaner,” with all the blinding smoked blown out (as I initially wrote this that was the case–now there is all kinds of smoke laying down into the area). Only a few other plumes of a spot fire or two. Looks much better. But all this doesn’t say much about the still raging fires north of there.

So, for today, lots of prep (cars are still “locked and loaded”), but still at home.

Our hearts go out to all who have lost anything to this wildfire, and we also extend our heartfelt thanks to all those fighting this fire. From what I’m seeing, it appears as if the “unified command” is handling things quite well. So many agencies are involved–and just today, the FBI, DEA, and ATF got involved, betting for the possibly arson consideration. I really hope this wasn’t arson, but it almost seems as if, if it were arson there’d be a concrete target upon which everyone could vent their rage, their anger for the losses suffered.

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 6.

Click here for Waldo Canyon Fire Video Compilation.

Waldo Canyon Fire – Day 4

by

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

by

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.