(no subject)

Morning fire update! :)

The good:

1. Some cloud cover and low winds last night allowed the fire to lay down a bit, so while there is still no containment it didn't go rampaging overnight.

2. Still no loss of structures and no injuries anywhere. \o/ \o/ <3 <3 firefighters <3 <3

3. Of most relevance to me and mine, the fire has not jumped highway 24, so that stretch of highly combustible forest and whatnot (that is also located in what is essentially a wind tunnel leading to us) is not, I repeat, not on fire. \o/ As long as it stays on the east side of 24, Divide remains out of the path.

4. The big guns in terms of air support and federal assistance are being rolled out today and tomorrow and they expect to be able to start going on the offensive in addition to reacting to immediate threats.

The bad:

1. Weather conditions are pretty much the worst they possibly could be for this today. The state is on red flag fire alert everywhere. It's gonna get up to 100 degrees, and they are expecting winds up to 25-30 miles an hour later today. All the rampaging the fire did not do last night could be scheduled for this afternoon.

2. We are still at 0 percent containment and given #1 it remains dodgy if that will change at all today even with all the extra support.

3. The air quality is absolute shit. It's not as bad up here where I am as it is in Woodland Park or on the west side of Colorado Springs, but it's still cough inducing. I expect we'll all be breathing smoke in various amounts for awhile yet.

4. While it hasn't yet jumped 24, and the firefighters are working hard to keep it that way, it hasn't moved significantly away from 24 either, and with the winds predicted later today we're still on watch and wait.

So yeah, sitting as good as possible at the moment, with the amazing efforts of the firefighters to keep it that way, and if things do go wrong they are likely to do so towards the afternoon after the wind kicks up.

(no subject)

Fire update!

Afternoon press conference just happened and while the fire is still bad they have it at 5 percent containment, so rock on firefighters. The latest blowup is on the north side of the fire and with the winds acting like they are Teller County is still on watch and wait, however it looks to me like they are holding shit back on 24 really well, so I'm thinking it's unlikely to be headed this way. I'll be keeping an eye on all the alerts and news, but for now it all looks good on my end and I hope those communities that are more threatened hold up (we still have zero structural damage, did I mention the firefighters are awesome? because they are AWESOME).

And now I get to tell you the very best part of the press conference. Rarely does shit this awesome happen on live tv, and I feel honored to have witnessed it. Because during the Q&A a "reporter" (the reason this is in quotes will become apparent with my next words)...asked in all seriousness if the task force were going to utilize the weather control satellites. Weather. Control. Satellites. The poor lady at the podium asked her to repeat it, with a look of 'wtf, she couldn't have just said that' on her face. But oh YES SHE DID SAY THAT. Again. What followed was kind of amazing...with whacky reporter lady continuing to insist that such a thing existed and they should contact (some government agency) to learn about it, awesome lady at the podium trying to side step by deliberately misunderstanding and talking about contacts with meteorological departments, and the entire task force behind her trying desperately not to lose their shit entirely.

IT WAS AMAZING, YOU GUYS. I want a weather control satellite. I wonder if they sell them on e-bay?

(no subject)

For reference sake, if anyone is wondering where I am in relation to what's going on This map shows the fire and the current evacuation areas. If you look to the left of the gold pre-evacuation area you'll see Divide (*waves from my house*). And why our primary concern is if the fire jumps 24 (which it doesn't seem like it's going to do). Right now all that blue area (mandatory evacuation) to the north of the red (fire be there, though it is spread further north now than it is on the map since it's been updated) is where it's headed and the direction all the major activity is happening at the moment. As long as it keeps going more north than northwest and stays on that side of 24, is cool.

And bonus, you can see just how middle of nowhere I mean when I say I live in the middle of nowhere.