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Colorado Springs Fire Consumes Homes, Threatens City - Businessweek

The wildfire near Colorado Springs has destroyed hundreds of homes and threatens heavily populated areas of the state’s second-largest city, including the U.S. Air Force Academy.
As the blaze called the Waldo Canyon fire entered its sixth day, more than 30,000 remained out of their homes, said Bret Waters, the city’s emergency management director. An estimated 18,500 acres were burned with just 5 percent of the fire contained, according to the Incident Information System, a service compiled by multiple agencies including the U.S. Forest Service and the National Wildfire Coordinating Group.
The origin of the blaze is under investigation during what’s shaping up to be the state’s worst wildfire season in a decade. Dry conditions and winds are also fueling fires across the western U.S., including Idaho, Montana and New Mexico. In Colorado, at least nine have burned over about 240 square miles (622 square kilometers).
“It is still the highest priority in the country -- the fires in Colorado right now,” said Rocky Opliger, an incident commander leading the fight against another blaze near Boulder, where he spoke at a news conference today.
The heat and drought are fueling record-setting fire conditions, said Opliger. Some are expected to last through the season until there is relief from fall weather, he said.
Flaming Landscape

In Colorado Springs, flames were visible in the distance as officials briefed reporters and Colorado Springs Mayor Steve Bach said that “hundreds of homes have been destroyed” by the Waldo Canyon fire. Still, officials said firefighters expected to make headway today fighting the 28-square-mile fire as the wind is predicted to die down for the first time since the fire started.
Until the Waldo Canyon fire erupted, the High Park fire near Fort Collins consumed much of the fire-fighting resources and attention. That has burned more than 87,000 acres since June 9 and is 75 percent contained, according to the Incident Information System.
Homes in the city’s northwestern suburbs continued to be threatened by the erratic fire, fueled by gusting winds since it started in dry brush and trees in the rugged Waldo Canyon on June 23, said Rich Harvey, incident commander for the multi- agency task force fighting the blaze.
Hemming In

There is still the potential that the fire might come down into subdivisions near the bottom of Blodgett Peak, a popular recreational area with open space and hiking trails, Harvey said at a press briefing in Colorado Springs.
The Waldo Canyon fire grew little overnight due to favorable weather, according to the Incident Information System’s website, which pegs the costs of that fire at $3.2 million.
Firefighters are building containment lines around more active parts of the blaze, particularly the southwestern side, where firefighters are building a two-mile firebreak using vegetation-eating machines known as masticators.
On the fire’s northwestern flank, above the Air Force Academy, firefighters are working with the National Guard and the U.S. Army, using bulldozers, helicopters and aircraft, to protect the base and nearby homes, Harvey said.
“Our assets have wheels, they have tracks, they have rotors, they have weather balloons,” he said. “We have not rested and we were able to hold the majority of this fire through a major wind event yesterday.”
Several shelters manned by volunteers with the American Red Cross remained open for evacuees today, with several housing a variety of small pets and providing cots, wading pools for children and free food. Community members opened their homes for thousands who remained evacuated.
Colorado Springs-based Colorado College is offering housing and meals on campus to displaced faculty and staff. Evacuees are even staying at the president’s house, according to an e-mail sent to alumni and parents yesterday.
To contact the reporters on this story: Jennifer Oldham in Colorado Springs at [email protected]; Amanda J. Crawford in Boulder at [email protected]; Esme E. Deprez in New York at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Merelman at [email protected]