Powerful Timelapse Video Of Waldo Canyon Fire

[agostinone]

This video (not mine) was shot just down the hill from us here in Monument. Kind of long but worth it. Tuesday was the worst day so far (as you will see). My office is at the mouth of Queens Canyon where the fire first crested the ridge into Colorado Springs on Tuesday. At first it was just impressive but when the 65mph winds kicked and I saw the wall of fire racing down the hill I lost all perspective--it just didn't seem real. It is sad that some have lost lives and homes but I do feel that it could have been much worse and for that I am thankful.

This is high quality video and worth watching in HD with the sound on.

[stefan]

speechless

[blueeyes]

Agreed. Sickening.

[Byron]

WOW! Now that is epic...it's like a monster, except it's hard core reality. The visual reminds me of Hawaii, when the volcano is lit up. There is SO MUCH fuel out there from the pine beetle wreckage. I have friends up in Summit and Grand counties who have been loggers all their lives, they're frustrated because the politicians won't let them go back in there and harvest the lumber. It's all about roads...just clearing a few hundred feet away from your house just won't cut it when a wind driven inferno comes rolling in. All that fuel will be there for many years to come and these big fires may be a regular problem, hopefully no flaming whole neighborhoods. This will certainly be a wake up call, but they need to clear way back into the public lands to make it safe. Maybe now the politicians will see light on this, I doubt the hardcore treehuggers will. These dead trees are actually worth a lot of money, but like I said, it's a problem that you have to bulldoze a road to get to them...Oh well, we'll see what happens. They're already starting to talk about this here in Denver.

[Scott Card]

Wow..... crazy how the shifting winds worked that fire. Scary, scary stuff.

[rockgremlin]

I didn't see much fire...just 16 minutes of smoke set to music. Not trying to bash the video...it's really well done, just wish there was more substance.

[agostinone]

I didn't see much fire...just 16 minutes of smoke set to music. Not trying to bash the video...it's really well done, just wish there was more substance.

The video was shot from about 10 miles from the fire. For perspective, the "hill's" on the right hand side of the video rise 3,000---8,000 feet above the plains to the left. So from that vantage point of the camera the flames are at best one pixel tall. For some heartbreaking pictures the Denver post has some good ones. Here are few.