August 25, 2012

Not horsey-Waldo Canyon Fire 2012

I work in Emergency Preparedness and Response in Public Health.  I live in Colorado Springs.  We recently experienced the worst fire in Colorado history where 347 homes were burned.  The fire started June 23 and was officially contained on July 10.
 


It was horrific and working in the response, the Emergency Operations Center and facilitating the re-entry, was extremely hard.  We had to keep our composure while working with people who's homes had burned down.
 


 
How can you not want to cry?  These pictures were taken during my work in the burn area.  We were delivering lunches and water to the National Guard who were posted in the devastated area.

 
Home owners used their knocked down fences to thank the firefighters who risked their own lives on the evening June 26, 2012 when 65 mile an hour winds acted as a blow torch and overtook the neighborhoods bordering the national forest.

 
 


 
 
 
Some houses survived amidst the devastation.
 
 
The Incident Management Team, a national team with countless resources, camped out in a local school yard for several weeks while teams fought the fire tirelessly.

 
 
Their homes may have been destroyed but their spirits survived.  I love my community!
 


1 comment:

Reddunappy said...

That is so tragic.

Our daughter lives in CSprings!

They are over on the East side though, between downtown and the Airport.