Pictures

On Sunday afternoon, we got the kids read, and went for a little hike behind our house in Ute Valley. Brig had a spot that he calls "hole in the rock" and thought it would be the perfect place to take pictures of the kids. We are so thankful that Ute Valley did not burn. Apparently, baby Ben did not like the location or he just was not feeling like taking picutres. Either way, it was not any easy task!!! We ended up with a few that we liked for a Christmas card and the others just pictures make me laugh. We conviced Ben that there was an airplane in the sky to make him stop crying or the older kids were being silly to make him laugh. Natalie has some of the best facial expressions EVER and Zach and Madeline both look so grown up in the picutures. But seriously, how many pictures must one take before I can get all 4 kids to look and smile? The answer is 97! This is the one we decided was a keeper. 

One of these 4 is not like the others

We love Ute Valley



Happy Little Natalie

Brown water & Flood Insurance

I did not take a picture of the brown bathtub water but I should have. It is just one of the many complications after the fire.  A couple weeks ago while Brig was in Hong Kong, I ran bath water for Ben and noticed that water had a brown tint to it so I called the water company and they just didn't seem to concerned.  So after I noticed that the water coming out of all the faucets had the brown tint I called again and I called the line for life threatening emergencies.  At the time, I felt like it was life threatening since we had all drank the water that morning.  I was told how to flush out the pipes and told to clean the water heater and that a main line had broke in the burn area and they were cleaning out all the fire hydrants and that the water was still okay.  So I believed them.  Well the water was brown today and this time my friend gave me the phone number to call the lab at the water company.  I was told the same thing about the fire hydrants and that debris is loosened when the fire hydrants are used and cleaned in the burn area but that the water is still safe to drink but that i just looks bad.  The lady apologized for us having to be concerned for one more thing but she tried to assure me that the water is okay.  The water is BROWN it is not okay.  I was at the post office and people in line were talking about the water as we waited for our turn.  It was nice to know that I was not the only one concerned but alarming to hear how many people had the same brown water.  I tried to flush out the pipes again and it seems a little better tonight.

Flood is another post fire worry.  Our house backs up to a canal. Our house is now in a flood zone since the burned area is not able to absorb water.  We purchased our flood insurance a couple days after we returned home even before the fire was out.  Now it turns out that the flood insurance does not cover everything that we thought it covered like THE BASEMENT!  That is the part of the house that I am worried about. I guess the structure of the basement is covered but none of the contents are covered. It is so frustrating.

It rained several nights last week and Tuesday we got reverse 911 calls on the house phone and cell phones and an email and a text warning us of a flash flood.  I do not like 911 calling the house twice in a month. I made me feel all the panic all over again.  We got our Christmas and Easter boxes out of the crawlspace and other stuff that I did not think could be replaced. We brought the scrapbooks up again and had Zach move clothes, shoes and his desk drawers so they would not be ruined.  This is the email that we got.

flashfloodpreevac

‏7/31/12

To ksasay@msn.com

From:	911notify@elpasoteller911.org
Sent:	Tue 7/31/12 1:43 AM
To:	ksasay@msn.com

THIS IS THE COLORADO SPRINGS POLICE DEPARTMENT WITH AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE.  A FLASH FLOOD WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR YOUR AREA.  
IF FLASH FLOODING IS OBSERVED, ACT QUICKLY. MOVE UP TO HIGHER GROUND TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS. THIS COULD BE A SECOND STORY IN YOUR HOME.  BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE DANGERS OF FLOODING.
 
KEEP CHILDREN AND OTHERS AWAY FROM STORM DRAINS AND FAST FLOWING WATER.
 
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY. THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO CROSS SAFELY. 
THIS HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE A DANGEROUS LIFE THREATENING SITUATION

Other parts of the city did flood and highway 24 had 2 mudslides but our little hill was spared. The worst part of the storm hit southeast of us so we didn't have any flooding which I am so 

grateful for.  I get worried every afternoon when I see the storm clouds.  I am grateful for the rain but I will be so relieved in a couple weeks when monsoon

season is over.  Apparently we will be in a flood zone for the next couple years.  

Brig's Version of the Waldo Canyon Fire

Up until the day of the fire the biggest thing that we had to worry about was my upcoming trip to Hong Kong and Tokyo.  It was going to be a long trip and we were pretty nervous about it.  Then on Saturday we were holding baseball practice for the Coronado baseball team and looked at the hill and saw a little bit of smoke in the air.

This wasn't much to see, but something said that this could be a big problem.  I remember thinking that I hoped that someone would put it out pretty fast.  Of course that didn't happen.  We went home and a morbid curiousity took over and Kim and I drove up HWY 24 to the Waldo Canyon trail to see what we could see on the fire.  It was scary how fast the fire was growing.



In just two hours the fire had grown this big.  It was something that I had never seen before and I knew at that point that this one was going to be problematic.  My only hope was that our beautiful city would be ok and that the things that made it so nice, Garden of the Gods, Ute Valley Park, and Pikes Peak would escape the mess unharmed.  After being completely amazed by the size of the plume of smoke, we did get some delicious Taco Bell.  I treated myself to a Grilled Stuffed Burrito, which I don't do very often, but felt that it was ok.  Only a few short hours after this, half of the Mtn. Shadows neighborhood was evauated, ironically very few homes of this evacuation were significantly impacted by the fire. 

That night we drove by the church and invited the Richards to come and stay with us until they could go home, we did leave the caveat that our home was only good until we got evacuated.  We just never thought that it would be possible.  The next day church was canceled, which is very rare and we were supposed to go to John's house for Adalee's baby blessing.  After I went to work to grab a few things, I took a few more pictures and decided not to go.  The chances of us being evacuated were really increasing.  It was still amazing that the fire was growing so fast.  The problem was that we were in the midst of five straight record highs for Colorado Springs, all going over 100 degrees.  Since we had moved to the Springs six years ago, we had never had a day over 100 degrees.  Running had become miserable.  We also had basically not had rain in a month, so the conditions were just perfect for the fire.   Here are the images that I took while I was at work.

From the parking lot of work, I have hiked where the plume was many times



Wide view of the plume



I have ran up Queen's Canyon a few times, but for some reason I failed to understand just how close the fire was to the rest of Mtn. Shadows neighborhood.  I thought that there would be no way that it would cross the hill in front which we called the scar.  Regardless, I definitely understood just how big this fire was and that I wasn't going to Ft. Collins.  The smoke literally went miles into the air.  We needed some serious rain before things got out of hand.

For the next two days we just would look at the hills and see the smoke, on Monday night Kim and I drove to Peregrine subdivision and took the following pictures.

Both Kim and I were wondering why Peregrine hadn't been evacuated at this time.  It just seemed liek the fire was very close.  However they weren't evacuated.  So the fact that they weren't evacuated made us feel like everything was going to be ok.  We knew there was a fire, but it was surreal.  Our beautiful city and neighborhood would not be impacted.  We went home and had ice cream.  I was a little annoyed that the smoke was hurting my training for a marathon.  On Tuesday morning, I went running, which was not very smart, since it was already 90 and there was smoke in the air.  My logic was that the smoke really didn't get bad until the afternoon.

Work on Tuesday was pretty much normal.  Everyone was a little bit distracted, but we continued working, there were QREX's that needed to be shipped.  I was in one meeting and we were wondering if we should push out shipments by a week or two due to being short on resources for testing.  That decision was made for us shortly thereafter.   One of my collegues received an evacuation notice during one of our meetings.  We all wished him good luck.  Soon thereafter a few more Agilent people were leaving.  It was just really strange that this was real and that it was going to impact our lives.  About an hour later, I saw on facebook a post from Sister Olsen that said the flames were over the hill and that they were out of there.  This was the first time that I felt that we could lose our house.  Alex Bailes, Joel Woodward, and I walked out to the parking lot and we took the following pictures.

I normally smile, but the homes below the smoke were where friends, co-workers, brothers and sisters, and my family live.  This was not a time to smile.  This was devastation about to happen.  Joel insisted that I get in this picture.

I don't know who this girl is, but that is exactly how I felt when I saw this smoke coming down. 

Denny, one of my collegues at work took this picture.  Literally it looks like the heat from the fire is coming from the inside of the mountain nto from the trees on the outside.  This is what 2500-3000 degrees looks like



This is one more picture of what was a mountainside view



What was ironic about this morning is that we were having our Durango fixed for its A/C, at 2pm, I told the car dealership that I didn't need to pick up the car because we were unaffected by the fire.  The images above were taken at 4pm.  We were being evacuatedf and our car was stuck at the mechanics...  I had to recruit Alex to bring me home.  He did.  He then got to ride with Natalie to Joel's house.  Alex later would say that Natalie never really quit talking the whole trip.  Kim called at this point and I told here I was on my way home. 

Alex then brought me home and everyone, including the Richards who were still staying with us packed up and evacuated.  It ended up that having the Richards with us was really lucky as they had a truck.  We loaded it up.  In the chaos that was happening, I left my winter running gear.  Luckily our home would end up ok, because that would have been sad to lose those.  After about twenty minutes, we locked up the house, it was full of smoke and left.  I did have to tell Kim that we needed to go.  Also a jewelry box fell out of the car and for the first time in Zach's life he heard me curse.  It was only the other word for poop, so I thougth that was pretty good.

As we left all the cars were lined up from our neighborhood.  I knew the fire was coming down Mtn. Shadows, but I was praying that it didn't catch in Ute Valley.  If it caught in Ute Valley Park our house would be stuck between two fires and we were in trouble.

Joel took this picture of Agilent at the exact time we were leaving from our home.



The video shows us leaving the neighborhood.  As we finally turned onto Garden of the Gods, we saw the Forrest Service fire trucks heading into our neighborhood.  Kim says this is what made her know for sure that things were really bad.



The fire trucks were going in



These were some of the real heros.  It was Armageddon in our neighborhood and yet they went right there.  You can't see him, but there was a policeman in the middle of the intersection directing traffic.  He didn't have time to get a mask yet.  That was a true hero as well.  The city would later rally around them.

We arrived at Joel's about an hour later.  Traffic was all going away from Mtn. Shadows.  I drove the Richards truck, it didn't have air conditioning.  It was 100 degrees and no way to roll a window down or smoke would take over the truck.  It was hot.  I actually think that it got so hot the ignition on their truck started to smoke by the time we got to Joel's house.  When we arrived, Joel had ordered pizza.  We greatly appreciated his hospitatility.  We then watched the news and read the Mtn. Shadows facebook page to learn anything that we could possibly learn. 

We spent four hours in front of the tv, but then a crew from news channel five showed the following picture on the television:

You can see the church, our beautiful churc down below.  It was ok.  The fire came as close as Centennial, but never crossed it!  Our neighborhood was ok.  In this image you can actually see our house and all is good.  We were very grateful to the news for showing this picture.  At this point we were worried about smoke damage, but most of our worries were now focused on our friends and churchmembers.  Unfortunately many of them would not be so lucky. 

Here are some more images of the fire,which were in the paper and online.

This was one fo the hardest working men there was.  He rode in the hellicopter all day, trying to do what he could to help.

Just amazing how big this fire was

This was a picture of the helicopter's bucket dropping water on the fire.  It was really just a drop on the fire.

At about ten o'clock at night, it was very clear that Mtn. Shadows would not be ok.  However, I never would have expected that over 350 homes would be destroyed in a matter of five hours.  From our ward, the McCombers and Morgans would lose their homes.  Many of our ward members would be impacted though.

The next day and for the next several days we went to Cheyenne.  I think both Kim and I felt a great sense of loss.  We would just get sad out of the blue.  On Friday we came back to the Springs for Jeff Courtier's funeral.  While it was sad to lose him, seeing all our friends again was a great relief.

On Saturday we came back to the Springs and were allowed back into our homes!  My Mom came with us and we were amazed at how little damage was actually done to our home.  We were so happy.  However we got to see the first remnants of the devastation.  The hill to Centennial was burned completely.  We also saw numerous homes that were once there, were no longer there.

I will write in a different post about telling the firefighters thank you.  I just know that Heavenly Father protected the church and our home.  While many friends lost their homes, the community rallied and we are stronger because of it.  It is strange to have been one of the poeple that is on the news as one of 32,000 evacuees, but it did happen. 

Thank You!!!!

"Sparked by flying embers from the Mountain Shadows area, a grass fire burns south of Centennial Boulevard at Mule Deer Drive around twilight June 26. Firefighters kept the blaze from spreading."

This is from the newspaper. This shows just how close the fire was to us. The picture looks like it was taken from the kids bus stop.  The firemen who stopped this section of fire from crossing the street, saved our home. 

There is no way that I can explain the gratitude that I feel for the firemen that saved my neighborhood and for the police and National Guard that protected the neighborhood while we were gone.
The day we came home we heard reports of houses being broken into while people were evacuated. We had taken most everything that was of value to us but I was still nervous about what we were going to find (or not find) in addition to smoke damage when we came home. Luckily, our friend had kept checking on our house for us and we knew that all the neighborhoods were being guarded by the police and Colorado National Guard.  We returned home and our house was fine and had not been broken into.We decided as a family that we were going to take cookies to the National Guardsmen  and police that were guarding the streets around us that were still closed.  Every day the kids decided on the kind of cookie to make and every  night for a week we delivered cookies. It was strange to see the hummers everywhere and men standing around with guns in my neighborhood.

  Every night the Guardsmen seemed surprised when we drove up with cookies but appreciative that someone thought of them. One night they were so nice and shared their gatorade with the kids. Every night we felt gratitude and humbled as they shook our hands. We were thankful for their service.

Thank you firefighters

More than 1500 fire fighters from over 30 states came to fight the Waldo Canyon Fire. At 8 p.m. in the evening when the fire fighters came down off the mountain for their shift change, hundreds of people were lined up to cheer and show their thanks and gratitude.  A friend from church posted on Facebook that her family had gone and cheered for the firefighters as they were switching shifts. We decided that we wanted to go the next night. We went every night the next week except for the one night that it rained (yeah for rain!)

It was an amazing and emotional experience.  The kids made thank you signs and many of our friends were there with us who felt the same way we did.  On the 4th, Kristi, John, Taryn, Conrad and baby Addie came down and went with us instead of going to fireworks. I was thankful for their support and for Kristi's sign that said "Firemen are smokin hot" :). We cheered, clapped, waved and yelled thank you. The firefighters waved back and many of them were filming us as they went by. Zach said that he was thinking about a lot of things during all of this. He said he was thinking about being evacuated and he was thinking about all his friends and people that he knew that did loose their homes as well as be grateful that our home was safe. Brig and Natalie were interviewed by the local news. Brig commented on how the sense of community that he felt there that night and Natalie said she was glad that her home didn't burn ( That was after she told the news guy that her name was Natalie and she liked to dance and she liked sports.) Zach and Maddi said that Natalie was born to be on T.V.

At one point, there was a whole bus full of firefighters and they were all hanging out the window waving back at us. Their hands, faces and clothes were covered in black. That is when the tears started to flow. These people that I did not know were fighting to save our city, our neighborhood, our homes and they were filthy and sleeping in tents at my kid's middle school. Our signs did not seem like an adequate expression of our thanks. 

The Firefighter Express

One particular friend that lost her home told me that on the day that she was allowed back in the neighborhood, 4 firemen were waiting for her to explain why they were not able to save her home.  She was told that the temperature of the fire reached 2800 degrees and that the firemen had to retreat.  They told her that they felt like every home was their own home and that they were so sorry.

In the weeks since the fire, we have seen more and more of the devastation of the fire but we have also seen more and more places that were saved.  There are so many places that the fire went right up to the back door of people's homes but their homes were saved.  There are places that you can see the bulldozer lines that saved an entire neighborhood.  You can see burnt homes and fields within 20 feet from the kids elementary school, yet their school was saved.  I can see a burnt field across the street every time I leave the house, yet my house was saved and I am so thankful.

The Aftermath

Across the street from the Church and our Neighborhood - This is my home

Today is July 15th almost 3 weeks since the horrible night. The Waldo Canyon Fire was the most destructive fire in Colorado history.  The fire is 100% contained and most of the 32,000 people evacuated are back in their homes.  All those except the almost 350 homes that were lost.  We are home trying to get back to the same old routine except it feels like everything is different.  We are different.  I think  about the fire, I talk about the fire and I still dream about the fire.  Last night, the girls and I saw a fire truck turn into our neighborhood and my heart sank.   I know the girls felt the panic too because I was trying to assure them that everything was okay.  I was driving on Garden of the Gods road and a fire truck passed me going west and immediately my mind went to the night of being evacuated and I could see the endless row of fire trucks rushing by us in my mind. 

Our world is different now. Every time I leave the neighborhood I see the burn line across the street that reminds me how close the fire got to us. I went to pick Zach up from a friends house the other day.  The houses across the street from the friend are gone and a burned car remains in the driveway. Then we saw Zach's teacher around the corner. The remains of her house were going to be bull-dozed that day.  Kristi and I went to the gas station and there was a burned car and motorcycle being towed away.  There is devastation all around us so I have decided to try to point out to the kids just how much the firemen saved. There are burn lines that go right up to people's back doors but their homes were saved.  There were burn spots in Ute Valley behind our neighborhood.  The fire fighter that put those flames out saved our neighborhood and home. The flames across centennial road are evidence that our church was saved.

I was not sure if I should put pictures up of the destruction and I decided to add some pictures because this is our reality now. This is what our community looks like and this is what we are all dealing with.

This is how close the fire was to the Church.

This house backs up to Flying W. I cry every time I go past it and see the swing set still standing. 

The car at the Gas Station

All that remains of a home in Mountain Shadows

An aerial view view published in the Denver Post

The Flag at half staff

Another Aerial view

The Denver Post published aerial pictures and that is how many people determined if their homes were still standing or not.

The fire fighters tore down the fences in the neighborhoods in order to prevent the fire from spreading. The day homeowners were allowed back in to see their homes they made signs with the torn down fences.