Colorado Springs Fire Department is ready for the wind

It was a great day today, but things are about to change.

The wind is coming.

It’s the kind of weather that has even long time residents shaking their heads.

Benito Ayala has lived in Colorado Springs for a long time and he’s never seen anything like this.

“Two weeks ago we had 2 feet of snow and here it is the 18th of February and it’s 63 degrees,” he said.

Ayala knows what high wind and dry weather means.

“The breeze, the warm weather – that equals fire,” he said.

Amy Sylvester from the Colorado Springs Fire Department tells us what other factors they’re watching.

“Combined with the fact that the snow has melted off and the grasses are dry leads to moderate (fire conditions),” she said.

If you need proof that fires can happen in the winter, you don’t have to look far.

This fire on the west side burned around an acre just weeks ago.

Even though it’s been about two weeks since we saw a foot of snow in most of El Paso County. Even though there are still piles of snow on the ground in some places. The fire danger is moderate (Wednesday) and is only expected to go up (Thursday).

Fire fighters are monitoring the weather closely.

Sylvester said, “They look at the fire danger adjective that is set by our office, but they combine that the forecasted winds to determine what type of response they’ll have.”

They’re ready for anything that might develop.

“If (Thursday) were going to be a Red Flag Warning day, they automatically take brush trucks on every call,” said Sylvester.

That’s because any spark in these conditions has the potential to grow out of control.