Fire Near Manitou Springs!

This is a little too close for comfort! There was a forest fire started today just outside Manitou Springs, near the Incline. We live only two mountains over from where this fire started. There was no lightning today, so it's strongly suspected that it was human caused. Unbelievable! This was started right outside town! We're lucky that the winds blew in our favor, in the sense that it blew the fire up away from town, so no houses were in immediate danger. However, the winds did blow the fire up the mountain, through lots of scrub oak (nice fuel for a wildfire...) and up some rugged terrain (making it difficult to fight).

I was half expecting to get a call on this one, as I'm on a volunteer fire dept for a housing development neighboring Manitou Springs. They had plenty of guys out there already though, with Manitou Springs, Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Forest Service, Hot Shots, and other firefighters all out there battling the blaze.

After work I went running in Garden of the Gods, and it was crazy watching all the activity. The fire was still going pretty good, and I was watching plane after plane and helicopters all taking their turns flying in and dumping slurry/water on the fire. I went out to check it out from a couple vantage points earlier tonight, and maybe get some pics, but I couldn't see it from this side of the mountain anymore. It's probably about out now, aside from the smoldering that's expected to last for a few days. Now we all get to look at a big-ass scar on the mountain, thanks to some petty arsonist. If he/she ever gets caught, the public is going to crucify him/her.

Updated info on the fire can be found here.