Sudden fire evacuations near Security-Widefield create panic and bring up bad memories for neighbors in the area

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - Around 3 p.m. on Monday, the El Paso County Sheriff's Office put out an urgent evacuation notice for people living in the area of Passing Sky Drive in the Security-Widefield area.

21 minutes later, the order was lifted. No homes were damaged, but neighbors were left worried after recent extreme fires across the state.

RELATED: Mandatory evacuations lifted near Bradley Road and Goldfield Drive for fire

Kevin Smiley, who lives in the evacuation area, was at work when the order came down. His wife was home with their four kids.

"The notifications just kept coming. Everything started escalating. I started getting nervous. One of my coworkers actually said, 'Hey, you should just get going, just in case.' By the time I was heading home, we were already getting the evacuation," Smiley told KRDO13.

Smiley said he quickly called his wife to make a game plan, and once he got home, everyone was just about ready to evacuate. Other neighbors KRDO13 spoke to say they rushed home to make sure their pets and their homes were safe.

"Once we got the notification that the evacuation was lifted, we kind of just breathed a sigh of relief," Smiley said.

Smiley said in the four years they've lived there, they've never had to evacuate. However, Smiley himself is too familiar with wildfires.

"I grew up in the Gleneagle area, so I'm very familiar with the 'Black Forest' fire, the 'Waldo Canyon' fire, and how those severely impacted us when I was growing up. A lot of this just brought all those memories of packing my things and having to evacuate, started flooding back," Smiley said, "That wasn't a very pleasant feeling for sure."

Even now, with the evacuation order lifted for several hours, Smiley says this close call will lead to them being more prepared in the future.

"It does make me think twice about, like, 'Okay, what do we want to do at our house? To help better protect ourselves,'" Smiley said.

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