Waldo Canyon Fire Update

More than 32,000 Colorado Springs-area residents have been forced to evacuate the Waldo Canyon Fire:

Heavy smoke and ash billowed from the foothills west of the city as the Waldo Canyon Fire became the top challenge for the nation’s firefighters.

“It was like looking at the worst movie set you could imagine,” Gov. John Hickenlooper said after flying over the fire late Tuesday. “It’s almost surreal.”

With flames cresting a ridge high above its campus, the Air Force Academy told more than 2,100 residents to evacuate.

Here’s the mandatory evacuation area, west of I-25, from about Highway 24 to Woodman Road. That’s all ‘burbs.

2,100 were evacuated from the Air Force Academy yesterday, which of course isn’t in session right now. I live in Woodmoor, marked on the map about nine miles north of the Academy.

It’s unbelievably dry here, and it’s been record-setting hot, too. That’s why every report you read about this fire has somebody saying something about how fast and aggressive it is. Melissa and I are pinning our hopes on the Air Force. For the fire to reach us, it would have to first get through the Academy — and we can’t imagine the Air Force allowing that to happen.