July 2012

July 2012, Waldo Canyon Fire (Stolen from my best friends blog, cause it applies to us too)

I debated whether to add this to my blog or not.  Since this is a family journal and this made an huge impact on us, I decided to include it.  July 23rd as Chris (Porter) was on his way home from Aaron's Camp, they noticed smoke in the area of Waldo Canyon.  They didn't think much of it.  Shortly thereafter, many areas began to be evacuated...including Garden of the Gods.  We all thought it would be under control in a relatively short amount of time, however, due to extreme dryness...the fire spread.  We were riveted to the TV, as scenes were constantly being shown.  We could see smoke from our house.  It seemed as though things were beginning to be controlled.   On the 26th, things went from bad to worse...the conditions were ripe!  The wind shifted.  The smoke came towards our home...very thick!  It seemed as though the sky were orange.  It was hard to see even across the street.  The TV was announcing that several neighborhood should be evacuated.  We watched in horror as some of the smoke cleared and we saw the fire go over the ridge and down into the homes on the other side.  It was surreal!  Something I will never forget.  That evening, we stood outside with our neighbors and watched the hillside burn, praying for those families who would lose everything.  ( It was the freakest thing to stand in the Rampart school field and look down on the city.  It was like something from out of a end of the world movie.  Very sureal) We along with the whole city of Colorado Springs are so grateful to all the fire fighters who risked their lives to contain the fire!

347 homes destroyed.  32,000 people evacuated.  18,000 acres burned.  2 deaths.

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