COLORADO SPRINGS — The Waldo Canyon fire exploded Tuesday afternoon, forcing more than 10,000 additional people to evacuate as smoke covered the west and north of the city.
The latest evacuation included the Pine Valley housing area on the south of the Air Force Academy and the Academy itself was under a pre-evacuation notice.
Showers of ash fell as traffic backed up on Interstate 25 and other major roadways, clogged full of refugees and fire equipment. Witnesses flooded the internet on Twitter, describing the scene as "an apocalypse" and "terrifying" and posting photos of the city wrapped in a sinister orange and black cloud.
Despite numerous unconfirmed reports that homes were burning, fire spokesman
Jay Baker said no buildings had been lost as of 6:15 p.m.Shortly after 4 p.m., the fire rushed down Queen's Canyon and officials immediately order the evacuation of the North Mountain Shadows and Peregrine neighborhoods, in the general direction of the Air Force Academy. Both neighborhoods had been put on stand-by earlier in the day.
After 6:30 p.m., addition evacuations for thousands of people were issued for everything north of Vindicator to south of the Air Force Academy.
New evacuees were told to head for Fort Carson, the Gazette reported.
The temperature in Colorado Springs hit 101 degrees, an all-time record for the city.
Fire officials said Tuesday morning the Waldo Canyon Fire is now estimated to be 5,168 acres with 5 percent containment.
"If I told you an acreage right now, it would be wrong in about 10 minutes. It is getting bigger," incident commander Steve Harvey, said during a 4 p.m. update, shortly before the fire's sudden leap.
Officials told the Gazette that they were considering opening more evacuation centers.
Even before the new orders, almost 5,000 people still remained evacuated from their homes.
Escorted trips for residents the Mountain Shadows
neighborhood planned for Tuesday were canceled after a change in fire activity, the El Paso County Sheriff's Office reported.U.S. 24 is closed in both directions between Cave of the Winds and Crystola. Garden of the Gods park and the Pikes Peak Highway and cog railroad are closed. Officials said the road would remained closed because it was the main artery being used by firefighters.
The fire started in the Pike National Forest about noon on June 23. More than 600 personnel are fighting the blaze, which took a run late Monday toward Palmer Reservoir. Aircraft are being used to protect Rampart Range Road. No homes have been reported destroyed, although Harvey said a small cabin was destroyed in Eagle Lake Camp on Monday.
Earlier Tuesday, crews had been working to keep the fire out of Queens Canyon and protect homes in the Cedar Heights and Cascade communities, as well as Eagle Lake Camp.
Harvey said he is hopeful crews will make progress Tuesday, but the weather makes firefighting difficult.
"It has the potential, despite our best efforts, to make a run like it did yesterday," he said.
Fuels are at record dryness, about the same level seen during the 2002 Hayman Fire, the state's largest.
Harvey added: We're "trying to put the right people in the right place."
Residents in the Mountain Shadows neighborhood thought they'd be allowed back home for at 30 minutes today, but when the blaze blew up this morning, escorted visits were cancelled. The number of cars coming out of the neighborhood is getting small.
Malina Lieven, who has lived in the neighborhood for three years, said she and her husband were in Wyoming when they heard about the fire. They stayed an extra day because of it.
On Monday her husband was able to get in the house to grab some clothes and a few sentimental wedding items. She missed her chance today.
"They're not letting me in," she said as she sat in her car outside of the roadblock after talking to police who were keeping people out. "You just feel helpless. Completely helpless. All I need is five minutes. Just give me five minutes."
Lieven said another challenge is being away from her neighbors.
"It's really hard," she said. "We're really close with our neighbors. They are like our family and we haven't seen them since Friday."
