The Cascade Waldo Canyon Fire Chronicles
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As a resident of Cascade Colorado, this is my personal experience of The Waldo Canyon Fire as it unfolded.
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The Cascade Waldo Canyon Fire Chronicles
- 1. A Private Experience of a Community Calamity
- 11. My favorite hiking trail. I cried.
- 12. There was no way we’d miss the 4 PM briefings that day
- 13. “They’ll feel that in Colorado Springs in ten minutes” Steve said. We tuned in to the scanners and listened as the changing winds changed fates
- 15. • Seven people, six cats, two baths, three bedrooms. Surprisingly comfortable. • Poor cell service, internet and local phones go down regularly. People wanting updates. We do our best.
- 17. Always happy each other, bu quite so ha
- 22. We also had a bear come up on our deck.
Editor's Notes
- The Pyramid Mountain and Waldo Canyon Wildfire touched the entire Colorado Springs community and beyond. Some lost everything. Others lost nothing, yet find themselves transformed. My husband and I are n the second group. We all have stories. This section of my SpeakStrong Website is Bob and my story. It's one of 1,153 Cascadian journeys through the experience of the fire. It's one of the hundreds of thousands of views across the county, state, country and beyond. May our journey deepen yours. Click on through. Post comments about your own experience of the Waldo Canyon Fire journey. I will be revising and updating this tale, but I post it now because there is too much to say. When words fail us, the pictures fill the gaps.
- At my Communidance that fateful Saturday, my friend Annette mentioned that she would be afraid to live in the mountains like I do because of the fire threat. I didn't share her concern. That was my first hint of trouble.My second hint was when I drove home and saw this. A puff of smoke in the mountains. It's tough to tell where smoke is coming from. But with every twist and turn of Highway 24, I thought - that doesn't look good! I didn't imagine I was witnessing the start of the worst wild fire in the history of Colorado.
- I stopped at the Cascade Library to pick up two books I had on hold. The Cascade Volunteer Fire Department (who could use and deserve donations) is right next to the library. They were on alert, waiting for coordinates. One fire fighter was in town when the call came. He said it should have taken him under a half hour to make it home, but it took a full hour because of all the people watching the fire instead of their driving.The Friends of the Library was having a book sale. We watched the plume for a few minutes before I went home.
- These are the books I picked up at the library on my way home.
- I was glad to see my husband Bob was home from grocery shopping. We were both concerned, but we'd seen fires before. We didn't know how concerned we should be. So we went where we could get a clearer view, and this is what we saw.
- Time to pack…
- Our phones were ringing extensively. We were in a bit of a fog. We actually engaged in conversation with some of the callers. One call was from Wendy who saw it from Pike’s Peak. She stood above the fog and had a clear view. It was time to grab our stuff and go.
- Leaving was spooky. Sheriffs were going from house to house. We were gone before they got to ours, but a neighbor told me they searched inside to make sure we were really gone.
- I was on the phone with a friend Wednesday when we got the Woodland Park evacuation call. Our step-daughter had invited us to stay with her family in Erie Colorado. We drove through the Hayman fire-damaged roads. We were greeted with blessed rains on the drive. Just a few days before, the Trout Creek Fire had flared up close to that highway. The Woodland Park Firefighters had been putting out several arson fires daily before the Waldo Canyon Fire. People assume the roads were packed, but they weren't. They evacuated Woodland Park section by section. We were the first to go.The cat was okay with it all but I should have showed her where her box was before we left. Oh well... it doesn't smell that bad.
- It was great to connect with family there, and a special relief to be somewhere where life wasn't defined by the fire. On the other hand, the Denver news stations cut the briefing coverage off exactly when they got interesting to us - like what was happening in Cascade. We streamed the news conferences so we could get the entire briefings.We went to The ARC Thrift Store to get a bathing suit so we could go to Water World in Denver. (My idea of a great time in 100 degree dry heat.) Somi wanted a new toy. She had to pick an old toy to give up in order to get a new one. She thought for a moment about what to sacrifice and postulated..."Bob and Meryl?"
- We got clearance to go home Sunday morning. That was a nice surprise. We didn't waste a minute in packing to go. We wanted to arrive in the resident window, before everyone was allowed on Highway 24. The State Troopers checked our IDs and welcomed us home. They went from being the guys who could ticket us for speeding to being the guys who ushered us home. The view on 24 was surprisingly normal except for the spots where the fire had reached Highway 24. There weren't many, but Waldo Canyon Trailhead was one of them.
- We were met at the Cascade turnoff by a local volunteer fireman. Bob took the materials and drove on up the hill. I visited with the fireman a bit before taking the trek to see what shape our home was in.There was a congregation of neighbors on Outpost Road celebrating our personal good fortune and reprieve. There was no damage to any of our homes. Not even smoke damage. For a few, the fire burned to the edge of the driveway and stopped. We were so happy to see each other. We were (and still are) thrilled to be home.
- We had been watching the Incident Commander, Rich Harvey, talk about the fire line in Cascade. That line came out on the far side of our next-door neighbors' home. We had later heard him say they had been able to contain the fire a bit further away. Which was really good news to our ears. This is where the original fire line came out. You can see they cleared trees on the burn side and piled them on the side they were defending. It's pink with slurry. If you wonder why it's so pink that's fire-retardant slurry. There's a lot of it in the area.
- I found a path that wasn't there before. It has been hidden since, but it was an awe-inspiring walk when I discovered it. This little path is a clear line where the fire stopped. I was told this line helped the whole effort a lot. The Cascade Volunteer Fire Department held the line here. You can see how, on one side it burned and on the other, it didn't.
- They closed the forest. This is probably one reason why.
- We all got Cranial Sacral treatments to reduce the trauma...including the cat. We're all much better for having received the care.
- They didn't do it alone. Still, I honesty believe that without the skill, courage and hard work of these eight men and the seven other fire-fighters who didn't make this picture, I would not be sitting in my home today. Donations to the Cascade Volunteer Fire Department are graciously accepted and can be made directly to CVFD, PO BOX 366, CASCADE, CO 80809. I asked how donations would be allocated. They told me, "All donations to the Cascade Volunteer Fire Department will be used to replenish supplies/equipment and add new capability. We desperately need a new type 6 pumper to replace our obsolete 1810 engine. All CVFD firefighters share this common goal. Contributions will help us achieve this goal sooner. As far as personal hardship; the honor of serving in this capacity exceeds any personal hardship."I remain in awe.