Colorado burning, over 32,000 forced to flee

[jimmy olsen]

Damn, that's as many people as live in my home town!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47964756/ns/weather/#.T-qpiZFZZlc

Tens of thousands evacuated in Colo. wildfires
New blazes lighting up across several Western states

Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes around Colorado Springs, Colo. as the Waldo Canyon Fire consumed more than 5,000 acres, the Denver Post reported. High winds and 100-plus-degree temperatures have worked against firefighters.

The El Paso County sheriff told reporters Tuesday night that 32,000 people were evacuated in the area.

The U.S. Air Force Academy installation commander also issued an evacuation order for residents on the complex, an Air Force statement said.

North of Denver, 26 homes in a southern Boulder subdivision were ordered to evacuate Tuesday afternoon as firefighters work to contain a blaze that consumed 300 acres in four hours, 9news.com reported. Boulder, a college town of 100,000 residents, is about 30 miles from Denver.

Officials say the Flagstaff Fire, as it is being called, is moving quickly toward the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a federally-funded research facility, 9news.com reported. Three aircraft and a massive C-130 air tanker have been dispatched to fight the fire, which has been described as an "extreme" blaze.

"We're about one ridge over from the city of Boulder," Boulder County sheriff's spokesman Rick Brough said of the fire at a news briefing, according to the Denver Post.

Triple-digit heat
Colorado has endured nearly a week of 100-plus degree days and low humidity, sapping moisture from timber and grass, creating a devastating formula for volatile wildfires across the state and punishing conditions for firefighters.

"When it's that hot, it just dries the fuels even more. That can make the fuels explosive," said Steve Segin, a fire spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service.

New wildfires have been lighting up across six Western states in the last month; 6,000 firefighters have been working to contain the fires.   

Much of Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and Colorado are under a red flag warning, meaning conditions are hot, dry and ripe for fires.

For the fourth straight day, Denver on Monday cleared 100 degrees and reached a record high temperature of 105. Other areas in the state have also been topping 100 degrees, including northern Colorado where the state's second largest wildfire in history is burning.

And the scorching heat doesn't appear to be letting up soon. Temperatures across Colorado are expected to clear 100 degrees again on Tuesday. Segin said such prolonged heat is "extremely taxing" physically on firefighters, who are working long days and carrying heavy gear.

The wildfires are also posing a threat to tourism.

Tourist destinations threatened
Several large wildfires across the West have placed some tourist destinations from Montana to New Mexico in danger just at the height of midsummer family road-trip season, putting cherished Western landscapes at risk along with hordes of vacationers.

In Colorado, the $5 billion tourism industry is on edge as images of smoke-choked Pikes Peak and flaming vacation cabins near Rocky Mountain National Park threaten to scare away summer tourists. Flames from the wildfire burning near Colorado Springs could be seen from downtown early Tuesday, the Gazette reported.

Authorities announced that the High Park Fire had destroyed 248 homes, up from 191. That fire has killed one woman and scorched more than 130 square miles and was just 55 percent contained Monday. It's the second largest wildfire in state history.

In central Utah, a wildfire in an area dotted with vacation cabins was burning an estimated 58 square miles and threatening about 300 homes. Firefighters had that blaze at 10 percent containment Monday. The Sanpete County Sheriff's office said that as many as 30 structures may have been lost.

And in New Mexico, firefighters Monday were mopping up a small wildfire that threatened one of that state's top tourist attractions, El Santuario de Chimayo, a 19th century church north of Santa Fe. The church draws some 300,000 visitors a year and appeared to be out of danger Monday.

Resources taxed
With the nation's privately owned fleet of heavy air tankers already in use or unavailable, U.S. Forest Chief Tom Tidwell said his agency had to call on C-130 military tankers to help. The order came as new fires started in Colorado, Utah, Alaska and Arkansas. In all, more than 1.3 million acres across the U.S. have been charred this year.

Tidwell said about half of the nation's personnel who are usually assigned to large fires are working in Colorado right now.

"It's just because it's so dry," Tidwell said. "Not unlike New Mexico — they saw very low snowpack, especially in that lower country. Hot, dry winds with dry fuels, you get the ignition, and this is what we see."

Even as some evacuated residents in Colorado were allowed to return home, tourists streamed out of some of Colorado's most popular summer sights.

"They don't want to come back where it is smoky and uncomfortable, so they move on," said Chris Champlin, operator of the Pikes Peak RV Park, which is usually packed ahead of the July 4 holiday.

The fire that emptied Champlin's RV park burned out of control at more than 5 square miles Monday, with smoke at times obscuring Pikes Peak.

[Tonitrus]

I am conflicted...on one hand, the USAF Academy is threatened, and on the other hand...they're officers. 

I will pray for the Academy cheerleaders, at least.

[HVC]

Air force cheerleaders? You guys really are a joke

[Tonitrus]

Air force cheerleaders? You guys really are a joke

http://www.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/081101-N-0696M-133.jpg

But hey, the Naval Academy has them too.  And some there are even on the team! 

And I had to check...West Point does as well.

[HVC]

No wonder you guys haven't won a war in years

[Tonitrus]

Cheerleaders represent the pinnacle of Western Civilization. 

[HVC]

My two highschools had cheerleaders. They were nothing like highschool movie (and porn i guess ) cheerleaders. That experience ruined all the goodwill i could afford to cheerleaders.

[Tonitrus]

Well, real cheerleaders in the wild are better observed than interacted with socially.  At least until maturity.

[HVC]

Well, real cheerleaders in the wild are better observed than interacted with socially.  At least until maturity.

So you're saying now is when i should be dating highschool cheerleaders? deal!


although to be clear i was refereing to the fact that none of the cheerleaders were hot, and many were not "cheerleader fit"

[Tonitrus]

Well, there are always local variables. 

[jimmy olsen]

Well, there are always local variables. 

The cheerleaders at my school were hot as hell.

[Ideologue]

I am conflicted...on one hand, the USAF Academy is threatened, and on the other hand...they're officers. 

They're the ones who make the big decisions about how many city blocks to burn, and which factories to prioritize.  You need them.

[Ed Anger]

The eggplant is fagging up this thread. I'm disappointed in you, son.

[PDH]

All you need to know:

Dry, dry, dry year here, no real rain for months.  The Pine Beetle caused die-off of lodgepole pine has made 30-50% of trees into large standing matchsticks.  High heat and 30-40 mph winds keep everything really dry.  Random lightning storms (without rain) roll through and light up the back-country.

That is Wyoming.  In Colorado they have hundreds of thousands retarded Greenies living IN those conditions, tossing cigarettes, lighting fires, enjoying the country life.  The Laramie Valley has been full of smoke for weeks now, and it ain't getting better.

[Ed Anger]

Hell, we are getting fire warnings here in OHIO. The end of days is here. PANIC