Fourth anniversary of Waldo Canyon fire remembered
The Waldo Canyon wildfire started west of Manitou Springs in El Paso County on June 23, 2012.
There had been reports as early as the previous evening that something was burning in the area, but nothing was found until the following morning when a plume of smoke began developing.
“We had people within 70 feet of where the point of ignition was later determined to be,” said Scott Campbell, El Paso County’s fire management officer. “When we got there, there was no fire to be found and it was too dark to keep looking.”
Sharon Engle’s home in nearby Eagle Lake Camp was in the line of fire and she was out of town at the time.
“We found out the later that the fire had the pattern of a hand over the lake,” she said. “Most of it was preserved and saved. The firefighters also told me that my horses helped save my house by eating the grass around it.”
The fire forced the evacuation of surrounding areas and of at least 5,000 people in Manitou Springs later that night.
“We had 30 people who spent three hours going door-to-door, waking people up,” said Dave Hunting, a Manitou Springs firefighter. “It went well. The people cooperated.”
Investigators have determined the fire was human-caused, but have not ruled whether it was started accidentally or intentionally.
Three days after the fire started, it swept through the Mountain Shadows subdivision of west Colorado Springs and destroyed 346 homes, also forcing an evacuation there just moments earlier.
The fire would not be fully contained until July 10, 2012, and was the most destructive fire in Colorado history until it was surpassed by the Black Forest fire a year later.
Authorities closed U.S. 24 between Manitou Springs and Woodland Park for several weeks in an effort to keep the fire from spreading further.
Jim Reid, El Paso County’s public services director, said the fire showed him the need for wildland fire crews who could use heavy equipment.
“We’re training a 12-man crew on that now,” he said. “It should be ready in another year or two.”
The fire ended a tense month in the Pikes Peak Area. Earlier, the Springer fire forced evacuations in Park and Teller counties, and a series of small arson fires were set around Woodland Park.
