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Forest / Wild Fire in USA on Sunday, 24 June, 2012 at 05:03 (05:03 AM) UTC.
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Firefighters battling the 2,000-acre Waldo Canyon fire that erupted west of Colorado Springs Saturday are preparing for the worst Sunday, a perfect storm of hot weather, rugged terrain, and aggressive flames. “Tomorrow could be very explosive,” said Mike Smith, the fire information officer for the U.S. Forest Service, said Saturday after the fire had exploded over 1,000 acres and appeared headed in all directions. Another forest service spokesman, Greg Heule, said he expected the dry winds and scorching Saturday temperatures would keep the Waldo Canyon blaze burning throughout the night. Heule wouldn’t predict flare-ups on Sunday, but suspected that hot, dry conditions would make Sunday another challenging day for firefighting. As the sun set on the billowing smoke Saturday evening, trees continued to torch, bursting into flames that could be seen across Colorado Springs. “We saw what the fire behavior was like. We see what it’s like now—we have trees that are torching off,” Heule said just before 9 p.m. Saturday. “What that indicates to me is that conditions are ripe for aggressive fire behavior. I’m not Mother Nature. I don’t make predictions,” he added.
Erratic winds, steep terrain, tinder-dry trees, and near-record high temperatures have made fighting the Waldo Canyon fire a challenge for the 350 firefighters from across the Pikes Peak region and beyond who raced to battle the blaze after it started just after noon with a towering column of black smoke. The 2,000-acre fire burned with multiple heads as it moved across the hillsides, stretching to the north and northwest, and as well as making an unusual run to the southwest — downhill and against the prevailing winds. The cause of the fire was unknown. Two single engine air tankers, two heavy air tankers, and one massive helicopter flew over the blaze Saturday, under the watchful-eye of one air attack plane, an airborne command center, said Heule. More than 1,000 homes and as many as 2,300 people were evacuated from Colorado Springs and portions of El Paso County, said El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa. An unknown number of people were also evacuated from the Ute Pass area, near Cascade, said El Paso County Commissioner Sallie Clark. All recreational areas on the hills west of Col.orado Springs were shut down Saturday afternoon, including the Garden of the Gods Park, the Pikes Peak Highway, Waldo Canyon trail, and the Cog Railway, said Sunny Smaldino, spokeswoman for the Colorado Springs Fire Department. Sections of Rampart Range Road, which was initially the only point of access for firefighters trying to reach fire, burned, said Sheriff Maketa.
A Type 1 incident command team, the highest classification for fire-disasters, was requested by local fire officials and was expected to take the lead Sunday morning to take charge on Monday, said Maketa. As the fire burned through dense trees and fallen logs — what firefighters call heavy fuels — it sent up thick columns of jet-black smoke Saturday. There are more of these fuels to burn in the hills, Smith said, and Sunday’s possibility for more near-record highs, between 95 and 100 degrees, could add to the conflagration. Within minutes after the fire was first spotted the white smoke it spewed turned black, bursting into a tall column that could be seen from across the region. Firefighters were quickly amassed from Colorado Springs, Green Mountain Falls, and Woodland Park. Two Forest Service Hotshot crews came down from Lake George, where they were fighting the 1,145-acre Springer fire. An incident command post was set up at a Safeway parking lot on West Colorado Avenue, where the city officials and some residents gathered to glean the latest news. Mandatory evacuations were issued for the 200 homes Cedar Heights neighborhood, an exclusive gated community west of the Garden of the Gods. An additional 850 homes were evacuated in the Garden of the Gods Park and parts of the nearby Mountain Shadows neighborhood. Colorado Springs police were sent to make door-to-door calls to drive those residents in the evacuation zones out of their homes.
The evacuation alerts confused several residents on the Westside Saturday afternoon. Some voluntary evacuations for the northern section of the Mountain Shadows neighborhood were issued and then rescinded. One Manitou Springs woman, who asked not to be named, said she received a reverse 911 call and knock on her door telling her to leave Saturday, although her neighborhood was not evacuated. Despite its fury, the Waldo canyon fire hadn’t damaged structures Saturday. By 9 p.m. Saturday, a command team, consisting of Forest Service officials, the Colorado Springs Fire Department and the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, had not decidedwhether firefighetrs would do battle with the Waldo Canyon fire until dawn. Firefighters are also worried about more blazes igniting in the dry hills and plains. The fire department and sheriff’s office called in off-duty firefighters and deputies to bolster forces in the city and county. Thirty-two deputies were called in to monitor evacuation zones, and 12 off-duty firefighters were brought in to staff three engines in the city. The fire department also called on fire crews from the Cheyenne Mountain, Cimarron, and Stratmoor Hills fire department to help bolster Colorado Springs fire stations exmptied when firefighters deployed to Waldo Canyon. As for what the Waldo Canyon fire will cost the city of Colorado Springs, already under budget constraints, fire Chief Rich Brown said it is too early to tell.
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