Waldo Canyon Fire

Last week was a scary week for the city of Colorado Springs.  A wildfire was reported on Saturday, June 23rd and conditions were VERY dry and everyone was well aware the situation was not good.  It began in Waldo Canyon.  This is the area we hiked just last summer when Mark & Rosie came to visit. Crazy.

This was on Monday evening.

We just pulled over and snapped a picture.  You could see the smoke billowing up behind the ridge.  You could smell the smoke outside.  And on Monday night we needed to keep the house shut up to keep the smoke out.  So thankful for air conditioning.

 A good plan was in place for fighting the fire but on Tuesday night, the 26th, sadly, all of the conditions were PERFECT for a firestorm.  It was a very dry day with low humidity and 65 mph winds.  Seriously.  Apparently, the fire went up the mountain and when it hit the top, those 65 mph winds sent it BLAZING down the side of the ridge that FACED Colorado Springs...putting thousands of homes at risk.   We were told that fires never go down a mountain like that, just up.  But as I said, the conditions were perfect for the worst thing that could have happened.

Tuesday night was chaotic.  Mandatory evacuation notices were made.  Many were trying to get home in rush hour traffic to get their most precious belongings.  With the time being around 5pm, traffic was a nightmare...bumper to bumper, people panicked and desperate to get out as they watched the fire storm down the mountain and in many cases not many blocks away from where they were trying to exit.




We were hosting small group that night and Andrew & Brittney called to let us know they had to go to Brittney's parents home (who were out of town) to grab some things for them because they were under mandatory evacuation.  They were stuck in traffic, panicked and needing to get out!  Kyle & Jen and Jamin came over and we watched some of the footage on TV.  It was eery.  If I were Jen I would have totally been going into labor!  She was probably about 3 weeks from her due date then.  From our window out our master bath we could see what appeared to be the whole side of the mountain blazing red with fire.   We could do nothing but pray.  Honestly, it was nice to be together.  It was good to have the distraction of enjoying each others company and watching the boys running around after each other and laughing hysterically.

That night though the majority of the devastation was caused.  here's a picture of the fire progress through that Wednesday.  Tuesday's loss is in yellow...so sad.



Our firefighters, police force, city leadership and everyone else involved was phenomenal in remaining level headed and focusing on the huge task at hand.  This fire has been fought day and night since then and as of today the fire has burned 18,247 acres and is now at 90% containment.  They expect to be at total containment by tomorrow.  The fire is being called the most destructive in Colorado history with two deaths and the loss of 346 homes that Tuesday night...which is A LOT of houses.  However, considering 80% of this same neighborhood (Mountain Shadows) was SAVED by the firefighters that number is actually an enormous success.   So many firefighters and police chiefs were saying they had never seen a fire quite like this one.  We are so thankful for all of them!  Only five minor firefighter injuries have been reported.  Also the cost to fight the fire so far is at 13 million and the estimated loss of homes is 100 million.  Our tourist season is sadly being affected as well due to the perception the public and vacationers have of this fire from the news.  Most of our areas are open and a good time is still to be had here!

Here's more photos from the Denver Post you can check out if you would like.  And here's an inside look on video of that Tuesday night in Mountain Shadows released by the fire department.

As you can imagine, this fire has caused us to have many thoughts.  What would we take with us in fire, what really matters anyway, how is God going to use this for the good of our city...etc, etc!  I think it would be so hard to start fresh and new after seeing what home ownership looks like, but we've only been here for 6 months!  Most everything can be replaced.  We actually realized we don't even have much that is valuable.  Maybe we purge too much?!!  It's nice to have photos digitized instead of scrambling for albums.  Not that it wouldn't be hard, and it would be very tiring to make a house our own again, but we could do it if we had each other.  Our Senior Pastor, Matt Heard, was actually on his sabbatical in Italy with his family when this fire stormed through his neighborhood...Mountain Shadows.  He flew back this past weekend to be with his church family and city during a time of a lot of question asking.  He wanted to be here as our shepherd...even though it was a very difficult decision as he had to leave his family. Somehow, his home was spared but it was so inspiring to hear the process his family had to go through as they dealt with the reality that everything might be gone.  You can watch his message here.  I am truly proud of not only our city but our church as a result of this fire.  Our church is very active in the community and the city turned to Woodmen Valley Chapel during this time in several ways.  Our mayor actually drove Matt Heard through the devastation the weekend Matt arrived even before the evacuated were allowed back in.     

Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and contact with us through this crazy time in our city!  I know some of you have seen a lot of these links via email, but I wanted to post them here not only for those who didn't see them, but for us to be able to access later on as we document this part of our life.  Someone posted this video with pictures of the recent events to a song called "God of this City" by Chris Tomlin.  This is our hope and prayer that God truly uses this event (and us...through it) to make a difference for Christ in this city we love.

By the way, none of Matt's co-workers ended up losing their homes in the fire, nor did Brittney's parents.  In fact, no one we knew personally ended up losing their house.