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Friday marks one-year anniversary of Bear Creek Fire in Colorado Springs

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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Friday's weather was warm, sunny, dry and windy; the same conditions present a year ago when a grass fire burned on the city's southwest side.

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The fire burned 26 acres in open space near Bear Creek Park, forcing the evacuation of 235 homes primarily along Electra Drive.

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While many residents feared a repeat of the 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire, the Bear Creek fire -- although it came dangerously close to homes -- caused no property damage and evacuations were lifted the night of the fire.

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The quick response by firefighters, and previous fire prevention (mitigation) efforts in the area, are cited as factors in limiting the fire's spread.

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What has changed since?

The burn scar has been covered up by grasses that have sprouted; some burned trees remain standing while others have been cut down.

Crystal Martin, whose door camera recorded some of the flames, has since moved to Florida, saying that she was concerned about effectively mitigating the area and future fires starting from homeless camps.

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"It was never an issue until past years (with) increased camping and people on the trails," she said.

Martin had lived on Electra Drive for 30 years.

Brent Hulen was returning from a bike ride when he saw smoke and emergency vehicles on his street.

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"The fire... the wind was pushing it this way," he said, motioning toward his house. "It was a large wall of fire. It was very dry. Things were cracking, smoking and burning."

The cause of the fire remains undetermined, according to the Colorado Springs Fire Department -- joining the Waldo Canyon Fire and the 2013 Black Forest Fire as being unsolved.

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Jennifer and Robert Hedden were walking their dog, Alex, along Electra Drive and recalled the hectic scene during evacuations.

"Many people left their sprinklers on as protection for their homes," Robert said. "We didn't find out until later that firefighters wanted us to turn them off so that they'd have adequate water pressure. There was a lot of confusion."

Jennifer said that the family will be better prepared in the event of a future fire.

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"I had a box with important papers in it when we moved here, and I still have it now," she said. "We didn't have Alex then, but we rescued a neighbor's dog. Another dog we tried to save, jumped out of the car. I hope it made it out safely."

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The importance of previous mitigation in the area likely contributed to voters passing Ballot issue 2D, which allows the city to retain $20 million in surplus tax revenue and use it specifically for wildfire mitigation.

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"I know that the mayor is putting together a wildfire advisory board for that ballot measure, said Melissa Hoffman, wildfire mitigation coordinator. "So we do have proposed areas we'd like to go to work in, and once they have that advisory board put together, around May, we'll be able to figure out what areas specifically we're going to go to work in."

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Scott Harrison

Scott is a reporter for KRDO. Learn more about Scott here.

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