It's been a real emotional last few days. I haven't seen my wife in 2 days now so that has not helped me from being kind of a crank. I have both pups with me and I think they're stressed out and I hate to see that. Yesterday we pretty much just laid in bed and streamed news online all day. If we are all in bed they seem to relax more and just fall asleep. If I move to the kitchen then they get ramped up.
I just got done watchng this mornings press conference and there was a sense of optimism from everyone involved. That NW corner of the springs that got devastated so much is still a huge concern and most of the divisions are down there trying to keep it fom making a run up the front range where there really aren't that many natural fire breaks. The encouraging news is that the line along highway 24 (this is the artery that leads to Woodland Park from Colorado Springs) is holding. There have been times when embers have jumped the highway and spotted up but they have all been put out. From what I understand, crews were stationed about every 50 yards to watch for spots and then radio for assistance to get them extinguished as soon as they jumped over. So the highway seems to be working as a solid fire line. I think there is still a really big area of concern right by Cave of the Winds (from the pics shown on the news, this area is probably a quarter to half a mile off the highway but in an area where they can't get crews to because of the terrain so they have been doing lots of drops to try to cool it off).
The fire has not advanced up by Rampart Reservoir (on our side at least) so it looks like the work they have done up there is paying off. The fire line runs from the base of the ridge at the highway all the way to to the top by Rampart Range Road and forms a T with the highway. A bit further up towards Woodland, crews are working to build a fire line (essentially a big trench) from 24 all the way up to Rampart Range Road. They have also widened Rampart Range Road quite a bit to increase that break line. As a fail safe, they have also gone back much closer to Woodland and are working to establish more of the trenches up the ridge to Rampart Range Road just in case the previous lines failed to hold. It will be interesting to see these in person as they sound pretty stout. The winds continue to prevail in a NW direction which is good for us and our home. Containment is holding at about 15% and I don't know for sure (but I would guess) that total acrage is still about 19,000. As of the 11:30 press conference, we are still not permitted to re-enter our home just yet.
That's all the news I have for now.
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