Americas

Americas

New Colorado fire evacuates 32,000, U.S. Air Force Academy

28 June 2012 04:16 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The most destructive wildfire in U. S. state of Colorado’s High Park has taken the back seat to the Waldo Canyon fire, terrifying residents 150 miles (241 km) to the south near the state’s second largest city, Colorado Springs, where firefighters are scrambling for cover and looking to the heavens for relief, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"This one’s like a freight train and we can’t stop it ... we can only get out of its way," said Steve Segin, U.S. Forestry service spokesman.

Segin said the fire is only 5 percent contained and 65 mph (105 km) winds Tuesday doubled its size overnight to 15,786 acres, triggering evacuations of more than 32,000 people, including all non-essential personnel from the nearby United States Air Force Academy. On an aerial inspection, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper called the scene "a war zone."

"We had a large scale evacuation last night to Fort Carson, more than 2,100 residents," said Harry Lundy, public affairs specialist for the Air Force Academy. "Smoke was everywhere and it was no time to hesitate," Lundy said, noting that no aircraft have yet been moved from the Air Force’s sprawling 18,000-acre campus north of Colorado Springs.

Nearby Denver has seen temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, (37.78 Celsius) for a record five straight days and 105 f (40.55c) on Tuesday. Combined with the driest spring on record, fires are seemingly erupting out of the ground. A total of 10 "large" fires are burning simultaneously across the state.

"It’s hard to keep track of them," Segin said.

With local headlines reading "Colorado’s On Fire" and Gov. Hickenlooper saying the ground looks like a scene from "the worst movie imaginable," more than 10 new fires are being reported daily, according to the U.S. Forestry Service.

The record-breaking, 19-day-old High Park fire west of Fort Collins has consumed local resources with more than 1,800 fire fighters and 30 firefighting aircraft. It has torched 257 homes and 87,285 acres, and cost 33 million dollars in losses thus far. As of Wednesday, it was 65 percent contained.

The "little" Colorado fires, not receiving national attention, are almost too many to count, with 10 new incidents being reported daily and causing officials’ heads to spin. Each is classified as having "extreme" growth potential.

In the past few days, 23 buildings were engulfed by flame in the two-day "Woodland Heights" fire near Estes Park. The " Flagstaff" fire has torched 300 acres, is burning out of control and is "zero" contained, located a little more than a mile from the affluent, 100,000 population city of Boulder. The six-day-old "Weber" fire, caused by a lightening strike, has taken 4,500 acres and is only 20 percent contained. The "Little Sand" fire is 11-day old, has claimed 22,000 acres and is only 30 percent contained. These are just a few.

Forest fires are bursting from the ground daily in America’s West almost like a scene from the 1998 blockbuster movie Armageddon, as blistering temperatures and record drought conditions have U.S. Forestry officials thinking the worst is yet to come. To Colorado’s immediate south in New Mexico, the record breaking Whitewater-Baldy fire has destroyed almost 300,000 acres and is still burning. It is 87 percent contained. Fire officials say the entire region is ripe for more "big" fires.

"It’s so dry out there ... it’s like a tinderbox," said Clay Templin, fire chief for Arizona’s massive 3-million-acre Tonto National Forest, who are currently fighting two active "big" fires, "Poco" and "Sunflower," totaling about 30,000 acres. Arizona fire officials still have vivid memories of last year’s nightmare 538,000-acre, record "Wallow" fire.

"We get fires every year, but this year has been extraordinary, " Templin said. "Our burning indices and our energy release components are at record highs. We’re one big fire away from breaking our worst season for the third year in a row."

Even with the summer monsoon season moving into America’s Southwest bringing cooler, more moist weather, fire officials are not convinced the weather will bring relief, due to the overall dryness of the region.

"We’re bracing ourselves now for ’dry lightening,’ coming soon, and under these conditions, very dangerous," Templin said. Origins of the fires vary greatly, from routine causes such as " human" and "lightening," to uncommon sources, such as flat tires, gunfire, downed power lines and chains dragging behind cars.

Next to Colorado, neighboring Utah is seeing the greatest active fire activity with "Wood Hollow," 40,000 acres and 15 percent contained; and the three-day-old "Church Camp" fire, consuming 4,000 acres so far and "zero" containment.

"We’re fighting these with all of our resources, but we had a record low snow pack this year, and that’s increased dryness incredibly," said Louis Haynes, public information officer for Utah’s 1.4-million-acre Ashley National Forest.

Everybody in America knows that "Four Corners" is the place in the West where the states of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona come together in one perfect point, the only such four- state spot in the country. But until this year, all four states were not involved in a rash of simultaneous fires that are occurring today.

"It’s a strange coincidence," said Ed Delgado, of the National Predictive Services Subcommittee. "But the heat and drought conditions are similar in the ’Four Corners’ region, despite the different geographical locations."