Fire On The Mountain

On Tuesday, June 26, I rolled up on Security Service Field at 600pm to shoot that night's game against Tacoma. The air was filled with smoke and embers from the Waldo Canyon Fire (about 12+ miles to the West). The visibility varied from several miles down to a couple hundred feet and the air really gave the lungs and eyes a workout.The whole city smelled like a campfire...

Security Service Field in a cloud of Waldo Canyon Fire smoke

The stadium from about 1/3 of a mile away.
Waldo Canyon Fire smoke cancelled the game.

...the parking lot was pretty empty as I pulled up. TONIGHT'S GAME CANCELLED was on the sandwich board at the entrance. A couple of employees were telling the uninformed (ie me) to beat it. The light was so eerie and the place was so empty I decide to get a few shots:

Looking North. Smoke, not clouds, fill the sky.

NNW. Wee little embers were falling from the sky
(and irritating my eyes).

Looking due West. The edge of the cloud of smoke.

This was the time the fire was racing into Mountain Shadows. The roads out were bumper to bumper with evacuees...

An empty, eerie Security Service Field.

The entryway. Dark, empty with a hellish red glow.

...by the time the night was over close to 350 houses and 2 lives would be lost. A dark day for Colorado Springs. But I'm proud of my hometown. We have pulled together like never before and for a short time become a community.