Wildfire evacuee: Burglary 'almost as bad as the house being burned down' - CNN International

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgHomes destroyed by the Waldo Canyon fire are seen from the air in a neighborhood on Saturday, June 30, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.The massive fire has destroyed hundreds of homes and forced more than 36,000 people to flee.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgDamaged cars line the curb in front of ruined houses in Colorado Springs.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgThe line of fire damage is clearly visible in this Colorado Springs neighborhood.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgSmoke billows at sunrise from part of the Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado Springs.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgOne home stands surrounded by others destroyed by the Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado Springs on Saturday.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgHomes burned to the ground by the Waldo Canyon fire are seen in a neighborhood in Colorado Springs on Saturday.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgThe fire, which has burned more than 15,000 acres, began spreading to the southwestern corner of the Air Force Academy in the early morning, causing base officials to evacuate residents.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgPresident Barack Obama tours fire damage with elected officials and firefighters in the Mountain Shadows residential neighborhood in Colorado Springs on Friday.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgFirefighters get ready to tackle the Waldo Canyon Fire on Friday.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgA house is engulfed in flames as fire crews fight to contain it at the Rose Crest fire in Herriman, Utah, on Friday, June 29. Crews are fighting to contain six separate blazes in the state.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgA pig is evacuated in a wheelbarrow from the Ching Family Animal Refuge in Herriman, Utah, as the wildfires worsen on Friday.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgMelissa Bowman, a CNN iReporter from Big Piney, Wyoming, captures the Fontenelle Fire close to her home as she waits for an evacuation notice.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgA camp for firefighters is set up at Holmes Middle School in Colorado Springs on Thursday, June 28. The Waldo Canyon Fire has scorched more than 16,700 acres.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgA partially burned home smolders Thursday in Colorado Springs.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgThe line where the Waldo Canyon Fire stopped moving east is seen from the air in Colorado Springs. Lower temperatures and lighter winds helped firefighters on Thursday in the battle against the fire.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgAn aerial view of a destroyed neighborhood in the aftermath of the Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado Springs.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgThe Denver Post." border="0" height="360" id="articleGalleryPhoto0017" width="640"/>The Waldo Canyon fire spreads through a neighborhood in the hills above Colorado Springs on June 26. See more photos at The Denver Post.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgHazy smoke from the Waldo Canyon Fire looms behind the Air Force Academy stadium on Wednesday, June 27, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The fire expanded to 15,000 acres. More than 32,000 people have been evacuated.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgSusan Custer and her husband, Gary Custer, watch the Waldo Canyon Fire on Wednesday.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgAt dawn on Tuesday, firefighters stir from their tents at a camp near Holmes Middle School.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgSmoke billows from the Waldo Canyon Fire west of Colorado Springs on Tuesday.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgEvacuees drive under a shroud of smoke from the Waldo Canyon Fire on Tuesday.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgJ'Amie Sirvaitis of Colorado Springs watches the Waldo Canyon Fire after winds pushed the fire into the Mountain Shadows neighborhood in Colorado Springs on Tuesday.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgResidents of Colorado Springs watch as the Waldo Canyon Fire burns a home in the Mountain Shadows neighborhood on Tuesday.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgSmoke from the Waldo Canyon Fire engulfs Interstate 25 north of Colorado Springs, Colorado, as the blaze burns out of control Tuesday.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgA large plume of smoke from the Waldo Canyon Fire fills the sky west of Colorado Springs on Tuesday.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgJan Stone, right, comforts Angela Morgan as smoke from the Waldo Canyon Fire pours over the Mountain Shadows neighborhood of Colorado Springs on Tuesday.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgA portion of the Waldo Canyon Fire moves across a hillside above a subdivision west of Colorado Springs on Tuesday.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgColorado State Patrol and Colorado Department of Transportation personnel set up a roadblock west of Manitou Springs, Colorado, on Monday, June 25.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgA portion of the Waldo Canyon fire burns out of control in the hills west of Manitou Springs on Monday.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgTrees burn on a ridge above Cedar Heights in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on June 24.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgGreg and Karen Bodine help her father, Duane Schormann, left, load his animals into a trailer near Colorado Springs as they evacuate the area June 24.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgThe High Park Fire, which was 45% contained as of June 23, has destroyed 191 homes west of Fort Collins.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgThe High Park Fire rages through the forest west of Fort Collins, Colorado, on June 19.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgLocal resident Dwayne Crawford looks out at the High Park Fire from his home west of Fort Collins on June 19.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgA heavy air tanker drops fire retardant on the blaze June 19. Its growth potential was "extreme," according to authorities.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgFlames scorched this area outside of Fort Collins where the High Park Fire has burned out, June 19.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgA helicopter drops water over the Wood Hollow Fire north of Fairview, Utah, on Tuesday, June 26
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgA wall of fire makes its way down a hillside toward a farm north of Fairview, Utah, on Tuesday, June 26. The Wood Hollow Fire, one of at least three wildfires burning in Utah, has grown to nearly 39,000 acres.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgSmoldering earth and damage from the Dump Fire, which began June 21, can be seen outside a plant near Saratoga Springs, Utah, on Saturday, June 23.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...al-gallery.jpgBurned-out terrain from the Dump Fire fills a hillside near Saratoga Springs, Utah on Saturday, June 23.



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• The so-called Waldo Canyon Fire continues to threaten thousands of homes
• The fire, which has burned 17,600 acres, is 45 percent contained, fire officials say
• Police are warning evacuees to be on the lookout for burglars as they return home
• Bus tours begin Sunday for residents wanting to see their homes and neighborhoods

Are wildfires blazing near you? Share photos and videos with iReport, but please stay safe.
(CNN) -- Hundreds displaced by a fast-moving wildfire outside Colorado Springs, Colorado, will get their first look Sunday at what remains of their homes when authorities begin bus tours of burned out neighborhoods.
Authorities were still tallying the toll over the weekend from what state officials described as the worst fire in the state's history, though preliminary estimates by fire officials put the devastation at nearly 350 homes destroyed and more than two dozen damaged. Two people were killed and two were wounded in the fire, authorities said.
By early Sunday morning, firefighters contained 45% of the so-called Waldo Canyon fire, which has scorched more than 17,600 acres -- close to 27 square miles -- since it began June 23.
Firefighters, aided by helicopters, air tankers and military planes dropping water and retardant, fought to contain the inferno that early Sunday was still threatening 15,000 homes and 140 businesses, according to InciWeb, a multi-agency fire response website.
Crews were working through the early morning hours, fighting spot fires that could flare up and make a run at threatened communities.
"If we can get in and clean things up tonight, it will really help," said Kim Soeper, a fire chief overseeing night firefighting operations, Saturday night.
The city has organized the tours, which will continue through Monday, for about 4,000 people in neighborhoods that were either damaged or destroyed by the wildfire.
"You'll be able to look at your property," Steve Cox, assistant to the Colorado Springs mayor, told reporters over the weekend. "You're not going to be able to get out and walk around the property because we're still in an active fire situation."
The fire forced the evacuation of more than 36,000 people, most on Tuesday when strong winds whipped the blaze into a firestorm that spewed ash and smoke.
Many have since been allowed to return. Authorities are no longer keeping track of how many people are still evacuated, said Anne Rys-Sikora, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service.
But thousands early Sunday were still waiting for word when they would be able to go home.
Among those who no longer have a home is Nicole Frye. She learned her house was among those destroyed when the wildfire roared down the mountain into the western subdivisions of Colorado Springs.
Frye has not returned yet but has seen the devastation in aerial photographs.
Authorities warned Saturday that those returning home should be on the lookout for wild animals, including bears, driven into communities by the wildfire.
They also warned residents to be on the lookout for possible burglars targeting houses vacated by mandatory evacuations.
More than 150 National Guard soldiers were deployed to Colorado Springs to back up police, who are investigating nearly two dozen burglaries or attempted burglaries in the evacuation zones.
Linda Burton evacuated her suburban home because of the advancing wildfire only to return to find out her house was burglarized.
"It's almost as bad as the house being burned down because you feel violated that there are people out there that prey upon victims that are already suffering," Burton told CNN affiliate KKTV.
"I feel like I have been hit by a train."
But there are signs of progress in Colorado Springs, says Cody Muth, a graduate student at the University of Colorado.
"It's still a little strange," said Muth, who days earlier helped a friend flee the firestorm.
Stores and gas stations, he said, have begun to reopen. The heavy smoke that blanketed portion of the city for days has also begun to lift.
But still, he says, people are wary.
"It's just kind of hard to cope with. Your city was on fire, and every day you see a new plume of smoke in the distance," he said.
"That's how all of this started, a plume of smoke in the distance."
Authorities put the cost of fighting the fire at $8.8 million by Saturday night. The U.S. Forest Service has warned it could be mid-July before the Waldo Canyon Fire is fully under control.
The wildfire is one of 11 active fires in Colorado. Other Western states -- including Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah -- also are battling wildfires, which is straining firefighting resources.
President Barack Obama declared Colorado a disaster area to allow federal dollars to help fight the Waldo Canyon Fire as well the High Park Fire, which burned 87,284 acres and destroyed nearly 260 homes in northern Colorado since it began on June 9.
As of Saturday night, that fire was 100% contained and all evacuation orders were lifted. Firefighters will continue mopping up hotspots along the perimeter of the fire, which has cost more than $38 million to date.
CNN's Melissa Gray contributed to this report.

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