Waldo Canyon Fire

*Update*

The fire has consumed 16,750 acres, destroyed 346 homes, displaced 32,500 people, and I just learned that 1 casualty has been reported. This fire began near my hometown of Colorado Springs Saturday morning (or afternoon, not exactly sure). This is a town I have lived in all my life, I have gazed upon our beautiful mountains (one of which is Pikes Peak, elevation 14,110 ft) every day of my life and admittedly, I have taken their beauty for granted. I cannot describe to you the emotions I felt as I watched them burning furiously in person, through photographs posted on FB, and via local news stations. So many people have been waiting all week after being evacuated from their homes, wondering if they would even have a home to come back to after this devastation. The latest update is that the fire is 15% contained, which is a ray of hope for all of us as we've watched this fire rage endlessly, aided by scorching 100+ degree heat, dry landscape and air, and gusting winds up to 65mph.. and at first, it appeared no homes were threatened. The firefighters thought they had the fire line closest to homes contained, but then a major gust of wind sent flames tumbling down the mountainside and through neighborhoods.. it was like the fire took on a life of its own, a very human, very evil life, consuming everything in it's path. This particular community of homes were pretty wealthy, each house was absolutely beautiful and the surrounding mountain landscape so serene, here is a before and after photo to give you an idea of the destruction:

www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbi…

It's unlike anything I've ever seen. I know disasters like this happen all the time throughout the world, and it is one thing to see it happen on the news from the comfort of your home, but this was basically my backyard in the sense that.. Colorado Springs IS my home. Pike National Forest is some of the most beautiful forest, such a beautiful national park and it has been completely destroyed. Rampart Range is an area of that forest behind Garden of the Gods that I have camped, fished, shot guns and hiked at so many times over the years. I just cannot imagine the aftermath. It's just so hard to process all of this. A bit of good news, a dear friend of mine who was only 12 houses down from homes that burned found out just a few hours ago that his home survived. But so many others, 346 families, are not so lucky. I have just been grieving so much over this all week, wishing there was more I could do to help during this time. I haven't been able to sleep much at all, not eating well, just generally very distressed and overwhelmed by all of this.

I live in Denver (technically Aurora) which is about an hour and a half away. I went down Sunday when Vik could be with Lily, I wanted to see the fire for myself. I will upload photos.. but even these photos are NOTHING compared to what happened Tuesday when the winds picked up.. I took the photos before homes were destroyed and the fire was still in it's early stages.

If you have any means at all to donate to the people who have lost everything in this fire, there are so many options, but one great one can be found at this link: www.ppunitedway.org/9-whats-ne… Just make sure it says Waldo Canyon Fire. All proceeds will go directly to those affected.

There are still 10 other fires burning throughout the state. In fact, half of the nation's firefighters are hard at work in Colorado right now. While our state is burning, Florida is flooding. Sure wish we could get some of that rain here. We so desperately need it. Got a little today, but I'm afraid it wasn't enough to help much. Saying lots of prayers for everyone affected by these natural disasters. Reality has definitely reared it's ugly face this week. But the good thing is that even in this time of struggle, our community has pulled together to help each other, and the outpouring of support from all of the nation has been tremendous. There is still much help needed, but just that generosity shows that there are still so many good-hearted people in this world. And that is something to be thankful for.