[spiderz17]

Just got a text from my aunt. They're beginning to evacuate parts of Colorado Springs.

[///M3 Madness]

It is awful in C. Springs now. I lived there for years and have dear friends there, some who have already been forced to evacuate.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18612897

More than 32,000 people have fled their homes after a raging wildfire threatening the US city of Colorado Springs doubled in size.

Traffic and smoke choked the streets as people evacuated the city and the nearby US Air Force Academy.

Some 800 firefighters are battling the fire, which is 5% contained, over 24 sq miles (62 sq km). Evacuation orders are in place in much of the city.

President Barack Obama is to tour the affected areas on Friday.

Just weeks into the annual wildfire season, there are also fires in Utah and Wyoming and Montana.

'Epic firestorm'
At a press briefing on Wednesday morning, officials said fire crews had worked through the night.

Weather conditions were not favourable.

Dry, hot temperatures are expected to continue across much of the US this week, with little chance of rain.

"We do expect all of our lines to be challenged today," incident commander Richard Harvey said, adding that erratic winds could make it harder for firefighters to make progress.

There have been no reports of injuries or missing people.

One Colorado Springs hospital said it had treated about 20 patients in the last 24 hours for respiratory-related illnesses, the local newspaper reported.

The Waldo Canyon Fire, which began on Saturday, has been fanned towards Colorado Springs by winds of up to 65mph (104km/h).

"It was like looking at the worst movie set you could imagine," Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper said after surveying the fire from the air on Tuesday.

"It's almost surreal. You look at that, and it's like nothing I've seen before."

Heavy ash and smoke was billowing from the hillsides west of Colorado Springs and southbound traffic was temporarily closed on Interstate 25, which runs through the city.

Fleeing residents covered their faces with T-shirts to breathe through the smoke.

"It took us an hour to drive a mile because of the traffic. It was really tense. As we were driving, the ash was falling out of the sky. We couldn't see the street because of the smoke," Colorado Springs resident Hillory Davis, 22, told the BBC.

Meanwhile, Richard Brown, the Colorado Springs fire chief, described the blaze as a "firestorm of epic proportions".

The city is Colorado's second largest, situated just off the main north-south highway.

It is home to the sprawling campus of the US Air Force Academy, the top school for cadets joining the Air Force.

On Wednesday afternoon, academy officials said the fire had spread to about 10 acres of the campus. Some 2,100 people were evacuated from base housing overnight.

Firefighters from the Air Force and local crews were trying to stop the blaze reaching the academy.

Elsewhere in Colorado, the High Park fire in the west of the state has been burning for weeks and remains barely half contained, although fewer homes are under imminent threat.

[carlanga1]

Originally Posted by bmwMpower1

Just took this off the back porch. First one I can actually see the smoke on

It's probably coming to get your sig...still got time to change it