Anger toward Army builds over fire that started on Fort Carson, destroyed three houses
Anger toward
Hundreds of residents who had been forced to flee with their pets and livestock as flames spread from the post to the rural
Elder said the Carson Midway fire was 80 percent contained as of
In addition to the three homes that were destroyed, Elder said numerous outbuildings, vehicles, motorhomes and boats had been burned. No injuries from the fire have been reported.
Prior to the announcement, several residents waiting at
"The Army is supposed to protect the American public, but it for sure doesn't feel like we're being protected," said
Saling, who was waiting for updates Saturday morning near the PPIR, added that he and some of his neighbors had asked
The frustration spurred the creation of a change.org petition asking Gov.
"It is irresponsible and unsafe for
By mid-afternoon, the petition was approaching 650 of the targeted 1,000 signatures.
A message seeking comment from
"We're in a continuous training cycle up until those deployments and soldiers actually leave to go overseas," he said. "They were out there doing some training today, combined training between some aviation assets and infantry, and at some point, we had a fire start in the vicinity of that range today."
Elder said at the Friday news conference that structures had been burned, but how many was unknown. He said he hoped that the fire would be out Friday night, but that residents would be kept away until it's deemed safe for them to enter the area.
Until then, anyone who needed to collect medications and retrieve animals had to wait on a list at PPIR to be escorted to their homes by deputies. Authorities said Friday that 250 residences had been evacuated.
"You'll give yourself an ulcer if you stress too much," he said. "To me, it's just a house."
"We have insurance, so we're okay," he said. "I need a new Harley, and
A former
"I'm very patriotic and love my country, but when it comes to live-ammo training on high fire danger days, that's a sign that something is wrong," Nickel said. "I get it. They need to train to go into dangerous situations, but I don't understand why they can't just wait a day or two."
Nickel's daughter, Reanna, was one of the
"We were praying on the bus to the high school because we were scared that the first school we have ever known was going to burn down," the 10-year-old said. "Then we got more scared when we thought about our houses burning down and our animals dying."
"It was rough for the kids," Nickel said.
It is unclear whether classes will resume Monday.
Nickel tried not to get her hopes up about the evacuation being lifted.
"If they don't let us in by five, we'll have a big tailgate out here at the raceway," she said. "I've got my cowboy boots, so I'm all set."
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