Colorado is on Fire Again

Hello Dear Friends,

I hope you are all safe and well. I am doing good, but it is not a good time for Colorado. You may remember that last year about this time, I blogged about the Waldo Canyon Fire. That was a terrible ordeal. But we have had wonderful support in our community and the rebuilding and planting had begun.

My daughter and her classmates helped with planting new trees in the Waldo Canyon burn zone. May 2013.

But terrible news is that our dry state is in terrible need for rain. We have several wild fires burning out of control. The three major ones started yesterday and from most serious to least of these three in that order are the Black Forest Fire, The Royal Gorge Fire, and the La Veta Fire.

You can see the Royal Gorge fire to the left and the Black Forest Fire to the right of us. We took this panoramic picture last night view toward Pikes Peak. June 11, 2013.

Unfortunately, I am right in between the two largest fires, and by in between I mean that the Black Forest Fire is only a few miles away. It has grown a lot closer since this picture yesterday. It is affecting approximately 8,000 to 12,000 acres. This is a very populated and heavily forested area. Homes are about every 2 to 5 acres apart. The latest I heard Update on Black Forest fire: Preliminary reports show 92 homes a total loss, 315 homes still standing, 5 homes partially affected. This is the fire that I am most impacted with and I have the most news on.

Home burning in Black Forest Colorado, June 11, 2013. Picture courtesy of denver.cbslocal.com

As of today at at 5:30 pm there are around 9000 people directly affected by this fire. This means about 3400 residents or thousand of evacuees. 

School June 12, 2013 approx 4:30 pm

 Even my sons school was being fought to save over night by this furious fire. The fire is at present 0% contained.

Picture of huge fire plumes from my yard of Black Forest fire.

The air quality is not good for anyone. With record high teperatures in the 90's and 100's across the state and windy dry weather. No chance of rain until atleast Monday.

A pronghorn runs across a field Wednesday, June 12, 2013, while a helicopter from Fort Carson helps fight the Black Forest Fire. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)

So if you could, please include the state of Colorado, the Firefighters and all the people and animals affected by these fires. Yes, there are a lot of horses and other farm animals as well as pets affected by this as well.

As far as the Royal Gorge Bridge, it has not been burned down but 3400 acres have been destroyed.

I don't mean to sound like a news cast, but this is impacting me and my State, and some of you I am sure. My prayers go out to all of us. I am so grateful that the Fire Fighters are working so hard, and that almost everyone is evacuating when asked. Yes there were some that didn't we will learn more about that later. I pray all are safe.

Bless you all, and I hope to have a much happier post nest time.

Blessings,

Little Susie Home Maker