The Waldo Canyon fire is something over 15,000 acres, and has burned about 300 houses within Colorado Springs city limits.
http://www.gazette.com/articles/house-140917-family-outside.html
I phoned my mom last night–she and my father, and my brother’s family, live along the Front Range not far from Boulder. They’re all okay, and have only seen some smoke so far.
OOps, messed up the links. Here’s the other camera angle.
I just called my aunt in Colorado Springs. The fires came to within seven miles of them. They were not evacuated, though tens of thousands of other residents of CS were.
I haven’t talked to them in years. They are grudge holders and have been holding one against me for something I said years ago…it was hard to call but I’m glad I did.
It was a little odd yesterday on the way home. There was a low ceiling and a wind coming out of the south. I could see the smoke from Colorado Springs coming over us and I could also see the smoke from Boulder covering us too.
Colorado Springs is about 2 hours away, Boulder is 20 minutes.
Two weeks ago, the smoke from the Poudre Canyon fire wafted over our house and the fans pulled it in. I got up at about 2 AM to make sure it wasn’t our house or neighborhood burning.
My thoughts go out to everyone in Colorado Springs, and I hope everything turns out okay for EnginNerd (or at least as okay as possible, given the circumstances :().
On the plus side, it seems like the High Park fire is now mostly contained (InciWeb says 75% containment), and I’ve not seen the visible smoke plume for a few days. Oddly enough, though, the smell of the smoke has been quite noticeable at yesterday afternoon and today; I hope it’s not an indicator that things are picking up again.
I’m so sorry. 
The damage is incredible - but in some cases almost random. In the linked photo, on one side of the street the houses, which are no more than 20-30 feet from each other, go like this: burnt to the ground, intact, intact, burnt, burnt, burnt, burnt, intact, intact, intact, intact, intact…
My brother lived in Colorado Springs for four years and was back there visiting this week. He finally decided to bail on Tuesday and is driving east. We have a number of friends there and are monitoring it pretty closely. It looks brutal.
We lived in Colorado Springs (Goldrush Dr) and Fort Carson from 1979-82…my daughter was born there, and we’ve always planned to go back and visit the Land of Her Birth. So sad to watch this from afar. And so sad to hear the Flying W Ranch in Colorado Springs burned in the fires…fun place to eat, and one of the last places I ate dinner with my father. I remember he flew in to interview for his transfer to Stapleton Airport, and asked that we go someplace where he didn’t have to wear a tie! If I remember correctly, the Flying W would cut your tie off if you wore one, so that was a natural! And then my father ordered a drink…of alcohol!..with his dinner! Quite a surprise to be reminded your parents are adults. My parents then moved to Aurora outside of Denver, and my father died at the end of that year. He loved Colorado so much.
Any other folks in Colorado experiencing cell phone problems? I can call and text fine, but my data speed is ridiculously low. I suspect that all the people being affected by the fires are putting a strain on the network.
Are all the cell towers around you still functioning?
As far as I know. I’m in the central mountains. And am not near the fires. Just thought the whole system might be overloaded.
Is there a way to test the cell towers?
But… now that I think of it, that’s not probably how it works. I imagine my signal might bounce through 2 or 3 towers and then goes land line.
It does suck to have your state on fire. I was in a bummer mood on Sunday when Manitou Springs (my favorite place) was evacuated. It also killed my plans!
My friend from Colorado Springs just posted on Facebook that people who evacuated are now being allowed back to their homes and finding their homes have been broken into and burgled while they were gone. I usually expect the worst, but for some reason this just surprised me. I hope it’s only happened in a small number of homes.
I really hope this is not the case. And I really doubt it. Colorado is great at managing these kinds of incidents. If that happened, it would surprise me too.
Some amazing and terrible photos here: http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2012/06/27/colorado-wildfires-waldo-canyon-fire-colorado-springs/5732/