Colorado Springs Wildfire

[JK657]

Any official CAP involvement?

[Smithsonia]

We've all been too busy to talk. Fire Watch Missions have found 3 or 4 fires which are now out and were quashed double quick because of prompt notification. The firewatch areas are just north of the Waldo Canyon Fire. We were on top of the Waldo Canyon fire about 30 minutes after it started. I think we have the first aerial photos but I can't post'em because the AF hasn't given us a release. New relief crews are lining up for more duty.

100 or so CAP volunteers worked in 100 plus heat for 5 days at the Donations Center in Ft Collins site of the High Park Fire.

Smoke is everywhere depending on the day. I live in downtown Denver so I should be fine. I've got a son in Manitou Springs. He's out of his house- in his RV waiting to displace again.

The Air Force won't let the AF Academy burn. We'll know they are serious when the sky turns black with an aluminum overcast of B-52s full of slurry. Mother Blue against mother nature. It will be the mother of all battles. In all seriousness - The Colorado Wing is standing up and plugging in everywhere we are asked. We are standing up multiple fire watch missions. We are providing comm, volunteers, lifting, heaving, toting, and doing what we can where we can. CAP Cadets at the Encampment were evacuated in good order.

I've done 3 days of duty in the last 6. Sardak doesn't seem to have slept at all in a week. All hands on deck. All doing a good job. All the best. This is what we were built to do.

[krnlpanick]

Thanks for the update Ed - I have been up at Foothills Mall 2 of the last 3 days and will be back again on Friday. Additionally, I am watching for any CAP involvement in the Waldo Canyon fire as well and I will be Johnny on the Spot for that one as well.

Big ups to all the COWG CAP Staff that are all over the state right now helping with all of our wildfires. Very big ups to the pilots doing fire watch!  :clap:

[Smithsonia]

Kudos to Mike McDonald, Leonard Ginther - they have been much harried but hard working ICs. At Ft. Collins Foothills Mall Donations Center - Dale and Jen Short, Bruce Hertelendy, Pete Dunn, Chase Peters, Liz Caldwell, Meagan Graham, and Mary Beth King - who is working with only one good foot. If Mary Beth were a Greek God she'd be a Titan. There are a ton of great cadets who will tell their grandchildren about the Summer of 2012. This will be a storied moment in our long and proud history. They were there. They now know. They will never forget.

On Fire Watch - Steve Steinberger, Randy Robida, Jim Jenkins, Rob Yusko, Nate Duehr, Bob Beabout, Robby Robinson, Ben Kreiger and a few more (sorry I am still collecting names)
Bill O'Connor will fly a mission soon, Mikhail Belov is scheduled, Reid Lester is signing up. I haven't talked to the Encampment folks who bussed out of the Air Force Academy - so I can't sing their praises yet.

Group 3 and 2 are on alert and working the fires. The scene is horrific. We are not on the front lines and won't be. We are the next level down. That's our job. We are proud of this
duty. I am proud to know everyone in the Colorado Wing. THIS IS WHY I JOINED. These are the people I want to be with... doing good... always. 

[Eclipse]

I am proud to know everyone in the Colorado Wing. THIS IS WHY I JOINED. These are the people I want to be with... doing good... always.

In the last month we've had two major, multi-day, multi-state missions, at different ends of the country, all well within our proper scope and encompassing hundreds of members and hours, and this is before hurricane season has really even started (and we've already had four storms turning at once!)

This is why a lot of us joined, and why we need to stay proficient, sharp, and prepared!

This is why we have the SARExs even when it seems like there hasn't been much going on lately, this is why we have to have those employer conversations, this is why we NEED MORE PEOPLE.  No one wants to see anyone get hurt or lose their home or business, but we also don't want to
be on the sidelines when the bell rings muttering "If only we were ready..."

OHH RAH and a HALF!  Go get 'em!

[krnlpanick]

 :clap: for both of the above posts.

[Extremepredjudice]

http://redd.it/vo05g http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/vo05g/how_can_the_national_media_not_be_covering_this/c567m3o this might interest you guys...

Edit: WHOOPS, wrong link.

[wuzafuzz]

Good grief.  The news blog linked below suggests 200-300 homes destroyed so far in Colorado Springs.   
http://kdvr.com/2012/06/26/waldo-canyon-fire-grows-thousands-remain-evacuated/

[Eclipse]

http://redd.it/vo05g http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/vo05g/how_can_the_national_media_not_be_covering_this/c567m3o this might interest you guys...

Edit: WHOOPS, wrong link.

The language in the comments violates the TOS here, and the national media is covering it, so I don't see the point.

[Extremepredjudice]

http://redd.it/vo05g http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/vo05g/how_can_the_national_media_not_be_covering_this/c567m3o this might interest you guys...

Edit: WHOOPS, wrong link.

The language in the comments violates the TOS here, and the national media is covering it, so I don't see the point.

The point was protecting your house from the wildfire.

[ßτε]

http://redd.it/vo05g http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/vo05g/how_can_the_national_media_not_be_covering_this/c567m3o this might interest you guys...

Edit: WHOOPS, wrong link.

The language in the comments violates the TOS here, and the national media is covering it, so I don't see the point.

The point was protecting your house from the wildfire.

Huh? How does this post in any way protect anybody's house from the wildfire?

[Extremepredjudice]

If you have time, prep your house. Cover any and all openings, this means windows, doors, vents, eaves, crawl spaces, any hole you can find needs to be covered with plywood or some other dense, semi-flame resistant material. Pull EVERYTHING away from the sides of your house, from wood piles to that lawn mower you keep meaning to fix to that Rhododendron your wife planted to that empty (or God help you, full) tank of propane. Pull flammable stuff away from windows and doors if it's in the house. And when evac time comes, leave a note on your door with contact info, number of people in your household, and your destination.

Thought it would be useful, never mind...

[Майор Хаткевич]

The OP and a few others suggest some strategies. Still, I think the time to make a run to walmart has passed for many people.

[SarDragon]

Having been close to the SoCal fires in 2003 and 2007, I can tell you that most homeowners are not going to have the time or capacity to do most of that stuff in the limited time available after a fire alert. I read the post, and thought the guy was a little over the top. Basically all you have time to do in many cases is grab your stuff and get out of the area.

[Extremepredjudice]

Having been close to the SoCal fires in 2003 and 2007, I can tell you that most homeowners are not going to have the time or capacity to do most of that stuff in the limited time available after a fire alert. I read the post, and thought the guy was a little over the top. Basically all you have time to do in many cases is grab your stuff and get out of the area.

Like he said, if you have time.

[Smithsonia]

There are fire camps right up in the woods just out of reach of the fire. They are in old forest service cabins. There is a smattering of tents and folding chairs too. This is where the strike teams knock off for a few hours. These people know what they are doing and are the best wildland firefighters in the world. They put aluminum foil on the roof of their cabins. They also have garden hoses and sprinklers everywhere. It is jerry rigged. It is goofy looking. BUT, that is what the pros sleep in at night and eat in during the day while they are against the fire line.

[LTC Don]

I think we have the first aerial photos but I can't post'em because the AF hasn't given us a release. New relief crews are lining up for more duty.

Did the AF forward those photos on to the folks that needed them......say, the El Paso County EOC?

Shouldn't those photos have been requested by the customer that really needs them in the first place like the local Emergency Management coordinator or Fire Chief?.  I have some heartburn about some of the Aerial Photog missions we are flying and why.

If the Air Force requested us to fly AP missions over the fire; what in the world are they going to do with the pictures, unless the missions were to keep tabs on the fire's progress in proximity to USAFA.......

I find my self scratching my head sometimes over some of the stuff we are tasked to do.   

[Eclipse]

Saying the AF hasn't released mission product doesn't mean the customer hasn't received them, nor that the customer is the AF.

[LTC Don]

Saying the AF hasn't released mission product doesn't mean the customer hasn't received them, nor that the customer is the AF.

Now that I've had a chance to think on it, I can see the value in this as an AFAM if the photos were used by the C-130 MAFF crews in their flight planning, if they were used in that way.  I saw quite a few pretty good pictures in the Denver Post set of the Hercs doing what they do.

We have wildfires here in NC, but very rarely on the level of what's happening in CO.  It struck me as odd that the El Paso EM or the State EM did not request any photo overflights (perhaps they have, but we don't know yet), but only the AF.  I think CAP has more to offer to state and local goverment in that regard.

Didn't intend to come across sounding like a troll.

[wuzafuzz]

Assumptions can be a dangerous thing.  No heartburn required in this case.

There are other aerial photographers out there as well.  A bunch of aerial images have shown up in the Denver area papers today.  I found a link to slideshows but can't find it again at the moment.