Hometown Hazard: Forest Fires in Colorado Springs

                 Hometown Hazard: Forest Fires in Colorado Springs

By Drew Getty

 

Photo showing people evacuating as the fire rages on the mountain--Credit FOX 21

     This blog post takes place in my hometown of Colorado Springs, Colorado. I remember exiting the building of a swimming pool on June 22nd, 2012. As we walked to our car, I looked to admire the view of the mountains as I always do whenever I have the opportunity. However, my attention immediately narrowed in on a billowing pillar of smoke emerging from behind a ridge. It was startling to see a lot of smoke from a forest fire in the area because I had never experienced a forest fire yet in my life. But, my family and I didn't think much of it because it the actual flames weren't even in site and the fire seemed far from town.

    However, this fire continued to grow and grow--thankfully, it was not close enough to my neighborhood to the point where we would have to evacuate but it was still too close and moving too fast for comfort. I remember at some point while the fire was active looking out of my parent's room window and being able to see massive flames shooting into the sky at night--very scary!

View of downtown Colorado Springs--Credit Britannica

    Now, it is time for some more details about the fire. The fire originated around 4 miles west Colorado Springs, but due to dry and extremely windy conditions, spread its way from behind a mountain ridge into the neighborhood Mountain Shadows, a neighborhood that is on the western periphery of Colorado Springs and on the foothills (Encyclopedia Staff). It became the most expensive fire in Colorado history for the time--even though it didn't spread as much as other fires with regards to area--but because it was fast-paced and spread into a heavily populated area (Johnson et al). The fire resulted in $500 million of insurance losses (Johnson et al).

    More specifically, we can look at some statistics of the fire to understand how dangerous it actually was. All of the following statistics come from the source Colorado Encyclopedia and will help the reader fully grasp the extent of the fire. The fire started on June 22nd, 2012 and was 100% contained on July 10, 2012, burning for over two weeks. 2 people died and 346 homes were destroyed. There was a delayed process in implementing and even coming up with evacuation plans so it was more devastating than it should have been. It was such a catastrophic event that President Barack Obama visited Colorado Springs and surveyed the damage of the fire, taking note about the devastating extent to which the fire had rapidly spread through the Mountain Shadows neighborhood and destruction it left behind (Encyclopedia Staff). 

    There have been more deadly forest fires that have happened in Colorado since the Waldo Canyon fire, there have even been multiple forest fires blocks away from my house since 2012. However, it was such a significant event at the time and brought to light the fact that Colorado Springs is situated in a danger zone with regards to forest fires because of its vegetation, topography, and climate. This is just one of many geohazards that impact my hometown and it should be mentioned that the forest fire led to others taking place. For instance, after lots of raining in burn scar of Waldo Canyon Fire, there was really bad mudslides and flash flooding that caused lots of damage. So, this demonstrates that even when geohazards stop happening, their legacy can still influence the area long after they are no longer active.

 

Bibliography:

Encyclopedia Staff. (2020, October 15). Waldo Canyon Fire. Colorado Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/waldo-canyon-fire.

First Photo credit: https://www.fox21news.com/news/could-the-waldo-canyon-fire-happen-today/.

Johnson, R. H., Schumacher, R. S., Ruppert, J. H., Jr., Lindsey, D. T., Ruthford, J. E., & Kriederman, L. (2014). The Role of Convective Outflow in the Waldo Canyon Fire. Monthly Weather Review, 142(9), 3061-3080. https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-13-00361.1.

 Second Photo credit: https://www.britannica.com/place/Colorado-Springs.