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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

More on Colorado Springs Fire

The wind changed yesterday and spread the fire all across the western part of Colorado Springs.  Authorities aren't saying how many houses have been lost because it might have a demoralizing effect.  virtually all areas west of I-25 and north of US 24 are affected, all the way to the Air Force Academy.  The Academy was evacuated, all tourist functions on Pikes Peak are evacuated.  And finally Aaron's office at I-25 and Garden of the Gods have been under evacuation orders.  If you want to see pictures go to KKTV.com or the website of Colorado Springs Gazette.  KKTV has live surveillance cams you can look at.  The air is so thick with smoke it's like a dense foggy day.  Over 30,000 people now evacuated.  Police aren't saying much about the investigation but some private conversations have said that 19 fires were started in the space of one hour--go figure.  So we continue to pray for all those folks whose homes are in jeopardy--Aaron has some clients who are Ponca Citians who retired to the mountains, so we've been in touch with some of them as well. 

Dumb flatlander's question answered.  How come the city can't take care of the fires easily since they have fire hydrants?  A: There are lots of canyons and areas where there is nothing built but is like wilderness and extremely dry.  When large pine trees burn they send flames 200-300 feet in the air and with breeze and updraft, spew burning embers for a couple miles.  So anything dry gets ignited by the rain of fire.  Deep within town, where there are blocks of people , yes there are hydrants and such and the fire will probably not touch them but thousands of folks live in the foothills. 

Dumb question #2.  What do they mean when they say a fire is so much % contained.  A: Since a burning forest is virtually impossible to extinguish, firefighters define a perimeter and try to soak-down, defend that.  So the amount of perimeter successfully holding is the "%-contained".  So far 5% of this fire is contained. 

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