calvinandmommy Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 So there are currently 2 major wildfires here in Colorado. One is pretty far North from where we are and the other is about 20 ish miles West of Colorado Springs where we live. I have never had to deal with wildfires so I really have no idea what to do if we have to evacuate. I doubt we will have to because if has to actually go through all of Colorado Springs before it gets to where we live which is on the far East side of the city. Either way it is still a bit scary. If it is a tornado, hurricane, or field fire I can deal with that but a wild fire that is reaching of 2000 acres yeah that is scary. I already have a slight plan though if we need to leave. First it would be a voluntary evacuation which in that case I would take Calvin and any papers or other stuff we don't want to lose and head to my parents place in Texas and then Josh would follow later since he would have to stay behind till the military tells him to leave. Anybody have any other suggestions for evacuating with a dog? Or just evacuating in general? Sorry if I am rambling on here...hard watching the England v. Italy game and trying to type this up lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Povodny Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 Oh dear. I have no experience of your situation. All I can say is, stay safe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmscott Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 When I was still in California we had a fire get like 2 miles from our house and they still didn't evacuate us. If anything just put together an emergency kit, have a big plastic tub to put important documents in for a quick run to the car. Have leashes on hand and door shut, if there's an emergency evacuation you dont want to be trying to haul an uncooperative sib out from under the bed. Soak the yard down. Later as a precaution you might take a shovel and make a small fire break. Wildfire is Coming. Is Your Home Ready? - Home CAL FIRE - Fire Safety Education Red Flag Warnings & Fire Weather Watches CAL FIRE Home The Fire Safe Council Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed #5 Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 I look on wildfires here in west Texas the same way I looked at hurricanes when I was on the Gulf. My suggestions would be: Don't wait for mandatory evacuation, you don't want to be in a car with dogs, kids, etc sitting in traffic going nowhere! Get all the important stuff together before you even think you might need to - like NOW!. Nature does not always cooperate and give advance notice. You can be setting there and then realize that what was four hours away is now coming in the drive. If it comes to it, forget the house! There is nothing you can do! Fires and 120mph winds don't respect the small stuff that we try to do in a hurry. Get on with the important stuff and get out! Make sure your cell phone is charged and working, if you get stuck in traffic you do NOT want to have to run the engine to charge the cell phone. Make sure you have a full tank of gas. Evacuation routs tend to suck the pumps dry FAST!. Make sure you have food and water that you can leave in the vehicle (( MRE style / Bottled water )) and leave it there. Store shelves will be empty!! (( at least of the important stuff! )) If you and others are heading to the same area, determine a safe meeting place a couple of hours away. Get away EARLY! Take the irreplaceable stuff and consign the rest of it to the gods! If you evacuate early and everything comes up roses then you've had a practice run. Pray for practice! If you need to, I wish you the best of luck. I've evacuated froom two hurricanes on the Gulf Coast and never waited till we had to go. Always had a good campsite and never had to sit in traffic. Take care and let us know how things are going - you now have me concerned! //al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mydiamond Posted June 25, 2012 Report Share Posted June 25, 2012 that is really scary never have to deal with those things so all I can say is listen to the above comments really hope you never have to evacuate from anything though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicTurtle Posted June 25, 2012 Report Share Posted June 25, 2012 I was evacuated from my house for a fire about 10 years ago. The fire moved so fast through miles and miles of our town - unbelievable how quickly it spread. 232 homes lost and miles of land burned. Our house wasn't burned, but that's because several of the men from the neighborhood stayed to fight the fire and keep it from our neighborhood. I agree that preparation is key. You pull the important stuff together, or at least make a list of what you MUST take. We started evacuating before it was mandatory and the fire was still 10 miles away. By the time we finished packing the cars the roads were blocked by law enforcement and they weren't letting people in to the neighborhood. It was a very scary 24 hours while we waited for word on whether the house was still there. My thoughts are with you out there. I hope they get the fire controlled quickly and you don't have to evacuate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sutsibe Posted June 25, 2012 Report Share Posted June 25, 2012 Thinking of (and praying for) you and others (including some friends and relatives) out in that general direction... Wish it would rain!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calvinandmommy Posted June 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 Just an update to everybody. The US Air Force Academy has been evacuated. And the fires are not slowing down. The fires have now burned structures. There is smoke covering all of Colorado Springs. Our stupid neighbors have their dog outside in a kennel right now with all that smoke. The fires have burned over 5,000 acres and over 12,000 people have been evacuated. If anybody wishes to see pictures or read more about the Waldo County Fires here is a link....http://www.gazette.com/ Please everybody pray for rain and pray that this stops. I really don't want to have to leave my house....I know people say stuff can be replaced but honestly I dont want to lose any of my stuff...some of it my parents got when they were in England in the 80s...stuff I don't want to lose. Tomorrow I am going to get a few thing for Calvin in case we have to leave and also gather a few things just in case. I am absolutely terrified right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuskyMom09 Posted June 27, 2012 Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 I've been watching the fires pretty intently. We're seeing fire activity worse than we have seen in at least 10 years from what I'm seeing....Montana is burning up too, it's early in the year for this kind of fire activity. WA will be next (where I'm living now). Will make for a good wildland fire fighting season for me, I know it stinks for everyone else though. Will keep you all in my thoughts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraB Posted June 27, 2012 Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 Sending good thoughts your way! My parents just got out to WY today and the town where they are staying is covered with smoke from a nearby fire. Hoping for rain! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sutsibe Posted June 27, 2012 Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 Praying for rain soon - and safety for all in danger from these fires! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicTurtle Posted June 27, 2012 Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 Thinking of you and hoping the rain comes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aronoiiel Posted June 27, 2012 Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 just read an update it's jumped the firefighters lines and has doubled in size My heart goes out to those firefighters it must be so frustrating with the weather hampering all their efforts. Here's to hoping we can push some marine air from the west coast your way I know alot of people who have family in that area Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stranger Posted June 27, 2012 Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 wishing you luck and all of our rain, from me and the boys x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calvinandmommy Posted June 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 So far the fire has burned 15,324 acres and has burned more then 100 homes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed #5 Posted June 27, 2012 Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 For those who have no idea what we're talking about, here's a real good photo ... 5,500 acres engulfed and 32,000 evacuated. Not a pretty picture and not looking any better. My prayers for you and yours!! Stupidly, the thunderstorms that are predicted are going to make matters worse because of the associated winds - and that is really messed up!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calvinandmommy Posted June 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 [ATTACH=CONFIG]50393[/ATTACH] For those who have no idea what we're talking about, here's a real good photo ... 5,500 acres engulfed and 32,000 evacuated. Not a pretty picture and not looking any better. My prayers for you and yours!! Stupidly, the thunderstorms that are predicted are going to make matters worse because of the associated winds - and that is really messed up!!! Thank you Al for posting this picture. This is from last night. Since then the fire has spread across 10,000 more acres. So far it looks like no more evacuations today. It looks like it is heading North. If the fire heads north that will be bad but it will be good for us since we live on the East side of Colorado Springs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed #5 Posted June 27, 2012 Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 Another set of pictures ... a slideshow on Yahoo News Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed #5 Posted June 28, 2012 Report Share Posted June 28, 2012 Weather.com has some excellent photos of a horrific situation. [MENTION=3591]calvinandmommy[/MENTION] haven't heard from you, are you okay?? Where are you in relation to the current fires. one of the slides show the fires that are rampant in the Rockies ... Hey, God, they need WATER!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calvinandmommy Posted June 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2012 Hey Al! Sorry I haven't said anything today. We are fine here. We are on the far East side of Colorado Springs and the fires are on the far West side. We had a bit of rain today but not much...the darn storm dropped all the rain once it left the fire area. The entire East side of town has gone completely mad! I went to the store today and everybody was there buying everything up "in case they have to evacuate". That's fine that people are preparing but seriously some lady was buying 5 bags of charcoal and was telling her friend that she was buying so much in case they have to evacuate. I have no idea what charcoal has to do with evacuation preparations but okay. The only way we would evacuate over here is if the fire jumped a 4 lane highway (I-25) and destroyed the rest of the town...not likely happening. On a good note the fire is said to be 10% contained now. And the FBI is investigating the fire because it was moving so strange. Apparently fires normally move East or West but this fire went South one day, West the next, and North the next. The FBI and everybody else is almost positive it is arson. The past few days our house has had a lingering smell of smoke and outside it has been hazy but today it has been pretty clear and the house doesn't smell. Let's hope that is a good sign. I thought about renaming Calvin to Smokey because he smelt like smoke. No matter what I did he wanted to stay outside...crazy dog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austinville Posted June 29, 2012 Report Share Posted June 29, 2012 Jennifer, More prayers for rain being sent your way. We visited Colorado Springs a couple years ago. BE SAFE! Hugs from Ryn and I to you, Calvin and yours. PS Calvin - Ryn says to go inside and quit worrying your mommy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed #5 Posted June 29, 2012 Report Share Posted June 29, 2012 Good to hear you're okay. I was in California ( as a kid ) when the San Gabriel Mountains burned - and we were living in El Monte so we got to watch the whole conflagration. Then last year when we had so many fires burning in Texas it was getting a bit nervous. I don't like fires, I cannot think of a worse way to die!!! Stay safe and take care, y'hear! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calvinandmommy Posted June 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2012 New update....The fire is now 15% contained, 347 homes lost, 1 person found dead, less then 10 people missing or unaccounted for. As far as I know the fire has not moved much since Tuesday night. Hopefully this means that the fire is dying down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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