Waldo Canyon Fire

Waldo Canyon Fire
Pike National Forest — El Paso County, Colorado
June 23 to July 10, 2012 — 18,247 Acres Burned
1,500 Wildland Fighters — 347 Structures Lost
30,000 People Evacuated — Two Deaths
July 30, 2012 — First Major Flash Flooding
Congressional Western Caucus
Seeking Colorado’s Solutions: Forest Health, Wildfires and Habitat Protection
May 2, 2013
Waldo Canyon Fire — Pike National Forest — El Paso County, Colorado
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Governor John Hickenlooper bans
open burning and fireworks.
Sheriff Terry Maketa orders Stage
One Fire Restrictions for El Paso
County.
44 of 64 Colorado Counties are
listed as High, Very High or Extreme for wildfire danger.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Reports of smoke in Ute Pass filter
into emergency responders. Firefighters search the area on foot, but
no fire is dectected before nightfall.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Fire is spotted around noon on Federal land in the Pike National Forest
near the popular Waldo Canyon
hiking trail. The fire grows quickly.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
The fire grows to 3,446 acres.
Evacuation Shelters are opened.
U.S. Highway 24 is closed between
Colorado Springs and Woodland
Park.
El Paso County delegates authority
to the Federal Type I incident command.
Early aerial photos, Top: from Woodland Park looking down Ute Pass.
Above: A pilot’s view of the fire, Ute
Pass and Colorado Springs.
Monday, June 25
Fire grows to 5,168 arces.
Four C-130 Air Tankers with Modular Airborne Firefighting Systems
join the firefight.
Left: A view from Cripple Creek,
Above: Firefighters along Ute Pass.
Waldo Canyon Fire — Pike National Forest — El Paso County, Colorado
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Morning
2,600 homes are evacuated.
500 wildland firefighters are
deployed as flames reach the
edges of Cascade, Chipita Park
and Green Mountain Falls.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Late Afternoon/Evening
Wind gusts up to 60 mph push
the fire north and east toward
Colorado Springs and the
United States Air Force Academy. Flames jump distances
of 1/2 mile at a time.
Mass evacuations are ordered.
More than 30,000 residents
of El Paso County are now
evacuees.
The fire triples in size to
15,500 acres as it blows into
Colorado Springs city limits.
346 homes are destroyed. The
famous Flying W Ranch burns
to the ground. Two residents
burn to death as the Waldo
Canyon Fire becomes the
most destructive in Colorado
histroy.
Traffic is backed up as resisdents evacuate
through the dense smoke.
Top: The Waldo Canyon Fire is blown into Colorado Springs city limits and
above the U.S. Air Force Academy Football Stadium.
Above: Homes in the Mountain Shadows Subdivision burn.
Waldo Canyon Fire — Pike National Forest — El Paso County, Colorado
Wednesday, June 27 - Tuesday, July 3
The fire grows from 16,500 to 18,000 acres
with 80% containment .
Residents of burned neighborhoods attend
a private meeting to learn if their homes are
one of the 346 lost in the fire.
President Obama visits a burned out neighborhood and promises assistance.
Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, and Secretary of Agriculture, Tom
Vilsack, visited the fire area.
C-130 Air Tanker dropping redardent to protect homes.
El Paso County opens the Disaster Recovery
Center. More than 30 agencies, buisinesses,
and non-profits provide food, water, counseling, furniture, clothing and cash. The
DRC serves more than 400 people the first
day.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Fire is 100% contained at 18,200 acres.
Remains of houses in Mountain Shadows subdivision
on the west side of Colorado Springs.
Evacuees talk to insurance agents at the El Paso County
Disater Recovery Center.
Waldo Canyon Fire — Pike National Forest — El Paso County, Colorado
Thursday, July 5, 2012
El Paso County turns focus to flood miitgation in aftermath of fire. El Paso County hosts
National Flood Insurance Program meeting
where more than 300 residents are told to
expect flooding off the burn scar and urged to
buy flood insurance.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar tours
burn area and pledges ongoing support
for mitigation efforts.
Flood Information is being distributed
to residents via the media, internet and
public meetings. Waldo Canyon Fire
has significantly changed the landscape,
presenting risk of debris flow and flooding. Hillsides once protected by vegetation have been compromised.
Monday, July 16, 2012
The Burn Area Emergency Responce
(BAER) Team makes initial assessment
of public assets at risk from flooding
and recommends initial mitigation steps.
69% of the burn area experienced either high
or moderate burn severity. The team notes
steep grades and narrow canyons which
will add to greatly increased danger flooding. BAER team has indicated that potential
water and sediment flow from the burn area
may have increased by 350%
Post-fire view from Rampart Range Road.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Light rainfall washes dirt and debris on to
U.S. Highway 24 from an unamed gulch.
The first sign of trouble.
Member of the BAER team discusses
burn severity map and flood danger.
View from the lookout on
Rampart Range Road
above Cascade.
Waldo Canyon Fire — Pike National Forest — El Paso County, Colorado
Monday, July 30, 2012
An afternoon thunderstorm drops only 7/10 of
an inch of rain over the burn area sending mud
and debris onto U.S. Highway 24. Drivers must
manuever around mounds of dirt and falling
rocks. The road is closed as CDOT trucks try to
plow the road clean.
Several homes are damaged and the Ute Pass
Elementary School playground is covered with
mud as water, ash and debris push up against
the building and creep in the back door. A
horse trailer is washed into a US 24
culvert. Colorado Springs Utilities
loses use of two of its reservoirs and
one critical water pipeline.
August - September 2012
El Paso County installs TrapBag
barricade system as a stopegap
measure to protect the children
at Ute Pass Elementary School but downtream
homes and businesses all along Fountain Creek
are still at high risk.
Above & Left: Mud Slide from unnamed
gluch along U.S. Highway 24.
Below: A secondary Colorado Springs
Utilities water pipeline is uncoverd by
the rain.
U.S. Forest Service BAER Team conducts mitigation drops over 3,000 acres of the burn area.
Heliopters drop straw and wood shreddings to
slow the mud and debris predicted with even
moderate rainfall over the burn scar for the next
five to seven years.
Above: Recovery worked complete at Ute Pass Elementary School along drainage canal.
Left: Helicopter drops tree shreddings for flood mitiagation.
Waldo Canyon Fire — Pike National Forest — El Paso County, Colorado
Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012
A slow all-day rain soaks the Waldo Canyon
Burn Scar, but no flooding occurs. Possibly the
last rain of the moonson season. Residents are
in relief, but know spring and another rainy
season will be here shortly.
El Paso County hosts a flood information
meeting in Manitou Springs. The Manitou
Police Chief explains that a new flood warning siren will be installed to alert citizens to
move to higher ground when flood water is
coming down Fountain Creek. Carol Ecariuus
of Coalition for the Upper South Platte warns
that devastating floods will follow the Waldo
Canyon Fire. She tells citizens, “It’s a matter of when, not if.”
Immediate Mitigation Needs
Representatives from the U.S. Forest Service, El Paso
County, City of Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs
Utilities, Manitou Springs, the Flying W. Ranch, the
Navigators, Colorado Springs Together, El Pomar Foundation, Goodwill Industries, the Coalition for the Upper
South Platte and many others meet regularly as a “cooperators” group to guide recovery from the worst wildfire
in Colorado history and reduce the risk of catastrophic
flooding as a result of that fire. to maximize the impact
of every dollar spent on mitigation and prevention the
Cooperators Group follows a model used successfully
in the aftermath of other devastating wildfires. It relies
heavily on volunteer labor to repair trails, remove dangerous debris, rake mulch and install small barriers and
basins.
Expert Assessment • Lessons learned from the devastating Hayman Fire more than a decade ago point to
the value of an expert assessment to develop an effective
mitigation plan. The Forest Service has spent over $5
Million on Burn Area Emergency Response treatment
for approximately 3,000 acres of Forest Service land but
that’s only 20% of the total burn scar area.
Protecting Infrastructure • The Forest Service needs
additional funds to install drainage catch basins and
drop structures to repair and prevent further damage to
roads, trails and other critical infrastructure on forest
lands. The U.S. Forest Service has already treated just
more than 3,000 acres of forest service land with straw
and wood chip mulch which was stripped of all vegetation by the fire.
Early Warning • The National Weather Service, the
U.S. Forest Service, the El Paso County Office of Emergency Management, Colorado Springs Utilities, the City
of Colorado Springs, the City of Manitou Springs and
Homeland Security identified a critical need for early
warning systems to protect life and safety downstream of
the burn scar. Additional rain and flood stage monitoring equipment is needed to enable the National Weather
Service to issue accurate and timely flash flood warnings
so residents can evacuate if necessary.
Private Property Mitigation • NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) appears to be the only source
of funding to assist with badly needed fire and flood
mitigation originating on or impacting private property.
The uncontrolled flow of mud water and burn debris has
already caused heavy damage to private homes, critical
utilities pipelines and electrical transmission facilities.
At Risk • Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs and Green
Mountain Falls are all municipalities within El Paso
County which have been impacted by the Waldo Canyon fire. All are now at risk from flooding. All 18,000+
acres burned, 346 homes destroyed and two lives lost are
within El Paso County and the County is committed to
the collaborative approach to solve problems caused by
the Waldo Canyon Fire.
Waldo Canyon Fire — Pike National Forest — El Paso County, Colorado
January 2013
$19.8 million for Colorado wildfire recovery
funding, but that was taken out of a Hurricane
Sandy disaster relief bill. El Paso County joins
with Larimer County which was is mitigating similar flood risks from the 2012 High
Park Fire and engages a regional coalition of
business leaders and government agencies to
assist in securing wildfire recovery funding to
protest the local watersheds, property and life.
February 2013
Colorado Senator Michael Bennet
toured the Waldo Canyon burn scar
and promises to work to restore
funding restoration of wildfire-impacted areas throughout the west.
National Association of Counties
(NACO) passes a resolution in support of adequate funding for fire
recovery and flood mitigation.
Spring 2013
Regional lobbying efforts in Washington D.C. put the threat of flash
flooding back in the forefront. With
a special thank you to Harris Sherman, Under Secretary for Natural
Resources and Environment, Department of Agriculture, and to the
entire Colorado delegation for pulling together in a bi-partisan manner
to secure Fire Recovery and Flood
Mitigation funds totaling $17 million
for Waldo Canyon and High Park
wildfires.
Above: Senator Michael
Bennet visits the burn
scar.
Right: Historic Glen
Eyrie Castle rebuilds
the Camp Creek channel bed.
Colorado Springs Utilities and U.S. Forest Service announce a 5-year memorandum of understanding which
expands joint efforts of forest and watershed management
planning in areas of the Pike – San Isabel and White
River National Forests important to the protection of the
community’s water supplies and system infrastructure.
Colorado Department of Transportation begins $5 million in mitigation work to repair, improve and protect
U.S. Highway 24 from flash flooding and debris flows.
Waldo Canyon Fire — Pike National Forest — El Paso County, Colorado
April 2013
El Paso County, City of Colorado Springs and other agencies
and jurisdictions launch a flash flooding and emergency preparedness campaign. The message, “Emergency Preparedness Starts With You” is delivered in print, through social
media, online and radio and television outlets.
Six town hall style meetings are held in neighborhoods impacted by the fire. Experts from the County, City, U.S. Forest
Service, Coalition of the Upper South Platte and others meet
with residents to address their individual concerns about
the flash flooding, debris flow, early warning and evacuation
plans.
Strategic Social Media messages are sent and resent by followers. A flash flood preparedness guide is created and distributed at meetings and door-to-door by a group of middle
school students.
El Paso County Commissioners, Mayors of Manitou Springs
and Colorado Springs, El Paso County Sheriff and others
record flash flood and emergency preparedness PSA which
are distributed for broadcast on local media outlets.
AspenPointe, a local non-profit, visits elementary schools
with its “I’m not scared if I’m prepared” educational program about emergency preparedness.
An interactive map showing the boundaries of a potential
100-year flood is posted on the County and City websites, as
well as two flash flood educational videos.
El Paso County announces plans to restrict $1 million of
the County emergency reserves to address flood mitigation and emergency response in the aftermath of the Waldo
Canyon Fire. The Colorado Springs City Council approves a
plan to take $10 million out of the city’s emergency reserves
funds for fire recovery, flood risk mitigation and emergency
response.
El Paso County begins design and construction
on mitigation projects totaling just under $10
million with $7.2 million coming from federal
sources and local match for the remaining.
The Watershed Assessment of River Stability and Sediment Supply Study (WARSSS) is
completed identifying areas at greatest risk and
providing information necessary to prioritize
mitigation efforts.
Hundreds of citizens attend
flood information meetings.
Above: A newly built check dam and catch basin along
North Monument Creek on the Flying W Ranch.
Below: Congressman Doug Lamborn, Commissioner
Sallie Clark and Under Secretary Harris Sherman visit the
Waldo Canyon Fire burn scar in April.
Waldo Canyon Fire
Pike National Forest — El Paso County, Colorado
Representatives from local, state and federal agencies toured the Waldo Canyon Fire Burn Scar and pledged to
collaborate on recovery and mitigation efforts.
El Paso County
Centennial Hall
200 South Cascade Avenue
Colorado Springs, CO 80903
719-520-PASO (7226)
www.elpasoco.com