My heart is heavy tonight. Some of you know that I used to live in Colorado Springs before I moved back home to Idaho about 5 years ago. Right now, Colorado Springs is on fire. Yes, the Waldo Canyon fire has breached the city limits. I have friends who are living in a hotel room right now. Another set of friends was on vacation and just decided to extend it after making sure that the rest of the family could evacuate the house.
I have tons of other friends that are safe for the moment but the smoke is getting heavy in town and people are having trouble breathing. They don't normally get really high temps until August but they've set records for most of June.

This was the view of the fire from a place very close to where my apartment was (well, it is still IS there but I'm not) as of Sunday.
And then today...

From the air (still Sunday, I think)...


This is from a live-feed of the fire burning up structures (they try not to call them houses when they're talking about a fire as it's a little too personal).

The Air Force Academy is under an evacuation order as of this afternoon.
Dad says they haven't called for any Idaho firefighters other than the groups that go out quickly. If this does go to the Federal level (from the sounds of it, it's still be handled at the State level), they could start being called in. Seeing pictures like this is just a good reminder of what my dad deals with every summer. He's the fire chief a small, rural fire department but the whole group stays certified with the BLM for widefires like this. It's just a good reminder of what they do and that they could be called to Colorado if they were needed and they will gladly go to help.
I have tons of other friends that are safe for the moment but the smoke is getting heavy in town and people are having trouble breathing. They don't normally get really high temps until August but they've set records for most of June.

This was the view of the fire from a place very close to where my apartment was (well, it is still IS there but I'm not) as of Sunday.
And then today...

From the air (still Sunday, I think)...


This is from a live-feed of the fire burning up structures (they try not to call them houses when they're talking about a fire as it's a little too personal).

The Air Force Academy is under an evacuation order as of this afternoon.
Dad says they haven't called for any Idaho firefighters other than the groups that go out quickly. If this does go to the Federal level (from the sounds of it, it's still be handled at the State level), they could start being called in. Seeing pictures like this is just a good reminder of what my dad deals with every summer. He's the fire chief a small, rural fire department but the whole group stays certified with the BLM for widefires like this. It's just a good reminder of what they do and that they could be called to Colorado if they were needed and they will gladly go to help.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-28 02:48 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2012-06-29 09:31 pm (UTC)From:I hope your family stays safe!
no subject
Date: 2012-06-27 01:01 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2012-06-29 06:07 am (UTC)From:LB