Pyramid Mountain Fire

To experience Meryl Runion Rose’s Cascadian pictorial chronicle of the Waldo Canyon Wildfire from the beginning, click here. To continue, click next below. 

We were met at the Cascade turnoff by a local volunteer fireman. Bob took the materials and drove on up the hill. I visited with the fireman a bit before taking the trek to see what shape our home was in.

There was a congregation of neighbors on Outpost Road celebrating our personal good fortune and reprieve. There was no damage to any of our homes. Not even smoke damage. For a few, the fire burned to the edge of the driveway and stopped. 

We were so happy to see each other. (As an aside, I’m wearing the top intended for Water World.) We were (and still are) thrilled to be home. 

To experience Meryl Runion Rose’s Cascadian pictorial chronicle of the Waldo Canyon Wildfire from the beginning, click here. To continue, click next below.

When we woke the first morning after evacuating to Woodland Park, we learned that Manitou Springs had been evacuated during the night. I didn’t take this picture, but I can tell you in posting it that this is the same road I traveled home the day before, wondering where the tall thin plume I saw was coming from. Cascade is five miles up the highway in the direction of this smoke.

It’s beginning to dawn on us that this might not be a short-term, temporary displacement. 

To experience Meryl Runion Rose’s Cascadian pictorial chronicle of the Waldo Canyon Wildfire from the beginning, click here. To continue, click next below. 

I was on the phone with a friend Wednesday when we got the Woodland Park evacuation call. Our step-daughter had invited us to stay with her family in Erie Colorado. We drove through the Hayman fire-damaged roads. We were greeted with blessed rains on the drive. Just a few days before, the Trout Creek Fire had flared up close to that highway. The Woodland Park Firefighters had been putting out several arson fires daily before the Waldo Canyon Fire. 

People assume the roads were packed, but they weren’t. They evacuated Woodland Park section by section. We were the first to go.

The cat was okay with it all but I should have showed her where her box was before we left. Oh well… it doesn’t smell that bad. 

To experience Meryl Runion Rose’s Cascadian pictorial chronicle of the Waldo Canyon Wildfire from the beginning, click here. To continue, click next below. 

In Erie, we had seven people and six cats in a three bedroom house. We felt right at home. Somi, our step-granddaughter, offered us animals to sleep with. Bob took a pig and I took a bear. Of course we were also sleeping with our cat. 

It was great to connect with family there, and a special relief to be somewhere where life wasn’t defined by the fire. On the other hand, the Denver news stations cut the briefing coverage off exactly when they got interesting to us – like what was happening in Cascade. We streamed the news conferences so we could get the entire briefings.

We went to The ARC Thrift Store to get a bathing suit so we could go to Water World in Denver. (My idea of a great time in 100 degree dry heat.) Somi wanted a new toy. She had to pick an old toy to give up in order to get a new one. She thought for a moment about what to sacrifice and postulated…”Bob and Meryl?”

To experience Meryl Runion Rose’s Cascadian pictorial chronicle of the Waldo Canyon Wildfire from the beginning, click here. To continue, click next below.

With 100 degree temperatures in the city of Colorado Springs, we were happy to have a place to land up the hill in Woodland Park. It was warm there, and occasionally smokey, but nothing like my friends in Colorado Springs endured. We make ourselves at home right away. The cat took about two seconds to adjust to her new digs. She particularly liked being around the people with cat allergies, but she also laid claim to a shelf in our closet. We didn’t bring much, so we didn’t need the space for our stuff. 

To experience Meryl Runion Rose’s Cascadian pictorial chronicle of the Waldo Canyon Wildfire from the beginning, click here. To continue, click next below. 

By 4 PM when we left, the smoke was clearly visible behind our house. There wasn’t a single cloud that day. That’s all smoke. 

Leaving was spooky. Sheriffs were going from house to house. We were gone before they got to ours, but a neighbor told me they searched inside to make sure we were really gone. 

To experience Meryl Runion Rose’s Cascadian pictorial chronicle of the Waldo Canyon Wildfire from the beginning, click here. To continue, click next below. 

Bob is Mr. Prepared, but we still weren’t convinced of how threatening this was. To give you an idea of our thinking (or not thinking) Bob suggested we leave the kitty. He was thinking she would be more comfortable at home. I vetoed that idea immediately. Still, we both shared a sense of unreality as we packed. Ultimately, there isn’t much I left that I would take next time, but there are some things.  

While we were packing, the phone rang a lot. we were getting offers to help and for places to stay. A few friends tried to keep us on the line to talk, and we had to “SpeakStrong” to let them know we needed to go.

I took pictures of our stuff for insurance purposes, and went out for another picture. This is from 2 PM – a half hour after the previous picture from this spot. It sure had grown!

We were on pre-evacuation status for probably an hour before it became mandatory. The phone rang – it was a reverse 911 call telling us to get out.