Black Forest Fire

Close to a year ago, my family and I watched in horror as part of our hometown burned to the ground.

The fire was within city limits, in a neighborhood called Mountain Shadows in the foothills. Over 350 homes burned and 2 people were killed.

It was a terrifying calamity that lasted for days. The community still hasn't recovered from it.

Yesterday, another fire started within city limits--this time in an area called the Black Forest, right in my family's back yard!! Here was their view from the back porch today at 1:20:

While last year's fire was devastating and I felt for all those in the burned area, this one is literally closer to home. Right now the fire is about 3 miles away from my family, but they are within half a mile of the evacuation zone. My grandmother was just evacuated from her home... Due in part to a mistake, a pre-evac area got the reverse 911 call and was told it was a mandatory evacuation. Now that's been cleared up, but my family's still getting her out of there, just in case. One of my best friends lives only a mile away from the evacuation zone. Lots of my friends lived in the Black Forest growing up... I'm not sure how many have been evacuated, but the number is climbing.

My dad is currently serving as the Bishop of his ward (in other words, he's the leader of my family's church congregation), and several families from the ward have been evacuated. He's busy coordinating efforts to care for all of them.

I can't believe this is happening again! Please say a prayer for my hometown. So far Colorado Springs has been blessed in that no one has died. I hope that continues to be true.

It's hard to be far away when this is happening!

Waldo Canyon Fire

On June 23, 2012, we looked out our window and saw this:

We found out there was a fire in Waldo Canyon, not far from Colorado Springs. Evacuations began.

Yesterday things seemed to be going better. On Sunday there were 11,000 evacuees, then they started letting people go back and the number dropped to 4,800.

But today was super hot, and the winds were really high. The fire got MUCH MUCH worse very fast.

Picture from 5:24 pm:

5:43 pm (from the same house):

Smoke blocked the whole sky. It was glowing an eerie orange color.

Now... we can see houses burning in the Mountain Shadows area. The fire has come down the mountain and it's in the plain now.
8:20 pm:

My whole life, I've looked up at these mountains. The view has always been much the same. But when the smoke clears, I don't think I will recognize my mountains anymore. My heart goes out to all of those who are losing their homes even as I'm typing this. I hope and pray that the firefighters will be protected as they face this terrible fire. I hope it can be stopped soon. They are estimating they won't be able to fully contain it until the middle of July at least.

On the news report we can see one of our Church buildings in Mountain Shadows. It hasn't burned yet. Everything around it is burning. I am hoping that it will be spared. It's surrounded by a huge parking lot and it has a fire resistant roof, so hopefully it will be okay.

I am so grateful there have not been any fatalities. All residents were evacuated. Thank goodness! This would be a much worse tragedy if people were losing their lives as well as their houses and belongings. But oh... I feel for all of those people who have lost so much!