The Devastating Wildfire that Inspired the Novel Fire Watch

My novel Fire Watch of the Southern Storms series just released two weeks ago, so I thought I’d share the real-life disaster I had witnessed that inspired this story and that I drew experiences from.  

How it started

It was June 23, 2012. We had just returned to Colorado Springs earlier that year from Germany for hubby’s final tour in the Army before retiring. Little did we know that we’d experience one natural disaster after another in various degrees the entire time we lived in the Springs. But I’ll share more of these stories in a future post.

Summers in Colorado are hot, dry, and the Chinook winds tend blow strong down the Rocky Mountains. This is the perfect setup for fire weather, and a red flag watch or warning will be issued when the conditions are right. Add a bolt of lightning, a cigarette butt thrown out of a car, or a spark from a campfire, and you’ll have a fast-spreading wildfire on your hands. 

We lived in the southern part of Colorado Springs, between Peterson AFB and Fort Carson. That Saturday, I was heading home after doing a rare fancy brunch at the Broadmoor Hotel with the girls. We noticed a small plume of smoke in the mountains, but didn’t think much of it at the time, as we had frequent brush fires out in the Fort Carson Training Area break out all the time, especially during fire weather. So no biggy—at least at that moment.

The next day I noticed that the plume of smoke had grown and spread. On the way to town for some shopping, I stopped at a field were people had gathered to take photos and to watch the fire. The news had told us that the tall, bright orange flames we saw in the distance were likely someone’s home going up in flames. It gave me chills.

Unfortunately, the winds were relentless, and the fire kept spreading even more over the next couple of days. Since it’s been so dry, there was plenty of fuel for it to grow. Firefighters were doing everything in their power to save properties in the path of this fire and to keep it from cresting over the last ridge on the edge of Colorado Springs, but it almost seemed an impossible task.

Soon, when the wind shifted to the southeast in the evenings, we were surrounded by smoke, even down where we lived. Everything smelled like a giant campfire, and you couldn’t get away from it until the wind shifted again in the mornings. Our cars were covered in flakes of ash the wind had carried all the way to our neighborhood. I’ve never experienced anything like this before. I couldn’t even imagine how scary it must’ve been for people living in the north side of the city closest to the blaze.

It didn’t take long until thousands of people were evacuated in phases in the areas of Woodland Park, Manitou Springs, The Air Force Academy, and Colorado Springs as the fire progressed in size and spread toward the Front Range. At the time I worked at the Fort Carson Military Hospital and I remember coworkers who lived near the evacuation zones being released to gather their most valuable possessions and leave their homes behind, not knowing if they’d have a home to return to once this fire was contained.

The Fateful Day

Then on Tuesday afternoon, literally all hell broke loose. After work, hubby and I were running into town to pick up something from Home Depot. It was extremely hot that day and the wind had picked up somethin’ fierce and was now blowing non-stop. Before we entered the store, I remember watching the huge thick, orange-gray plume of smoke behind the ridge of the mountain being pushed down into the city by the wind. This can’t be good, I thought. Not good at all.

We spent about 30 minutes in the store, and when we came out, we saw that the fire had crested and raced down the mountain toward the city.

This picture was taken from northeast of Colorado Springs looking onto the Air Force Academy with the Falcon Stadium in the center. You also see the fire cresting the front range. The smoke crawling down the mountain on the left is what we saw from Home Depot.

We rushed home and turned on the news, but we already knew that we had been witnessing the worst case scenario unfolding right there in front of us. And there was nothing we could do. 

That evening, the smoke was extremely dense. As the sun went down, the sky lit up in a dark orangish-brown hue, and the sun was a mere orange ball amidst the smoke. The photo wasn’t even close to do justice to what I saw. As beautiful as it was to watch, it was also sad. As the sun had set, we could see the bright orange flames crawling down the mountains in the distance. It was chilling to see the fire-covered mountain in the dark. It resembled a scene of a post-apocalyptic movie. The images have been seared in my mind and still give me chills today.

The Aftermath

It took a few more days until the fire was contained and the damage was assessed. The blaze covered 18,247 acres, about 29 square miles. About 32,000 residents in the path of the wildfire were evacuated, 346 homes were destroyed, and sadly 2 residents lost their lives. I’ve met many people in the weeks after the disaster who had lost their homes. We had a devastating house fire before, so I could relate to what it was like to lose everything—just in the blink of an eye. The Waldo Canyon Fire was determined to be caused by humans, but they never found the individuals.

A few weeks later, I was on the north-west side of town near the area where the fire came down the mountain. I drove into the neighborhood. A chill ran down my back as I saw I took in the scene in front of me. The entire neighborhood was leveled, except for the occasional house and tree that seemed untouched amidst the charred surroundings. It was surreal. Those residents were the lucky ones. 

For the remainder of the neighborhood, the only evidence of the large family homes that once stood there were the square, charred, empty concrete holes in the ground—the basements. Was I in a post-apocalyptic movie? No. This was real.

The Waldo Canyon fire had been the most destructive fire in Colorado history. Unfortunately, almost exactly a year later, the Black Forest Fire just northeast of Colorado Springs consumed 486 homes. 

Back to Fire Watch

Although Fire Watch is not about the Waldo Canyon Fire, and the story takes place in the Georgia Blue Ridge Mountains, Morgan and Sean will experience some of the same things we did during the Waldo Canyon and the Black Forest fires. They have to deal with the harsh smell of smoke you can’t get away from and that clings to EVERYTHING. Also, there’s that horrible feeling of constantly being on edge, because you don’t know if the worst case scenario will come true. 

If you haven’t read Fire Watch yet, you can grab your copy here.

Although this novel is book 3 in the Southern Storms clean & wholesome romance series, it can be read as a standalone.