Colorado wildfires and the skating community

[golden411]

:( For days now, the wildfires have been weighing on the minds of skaters, esp. those who call or have called Colorado home.
IN has an report today that mentions a few skaters who have been affected by the evacuations, and that cites eyewitness John Coughlin.
His voice is just one of many from a chorus of tweets, such as:

But first, ETA: Latest update from Tim Koleto ‏@Timkoleto

"Thanks to my amazing mother, @fiestymadels and mama Zawadzki, the cars are all packed and we are safely evacuated."

12:40 PM - 27 Jun 12

Rachael Flatt ‏@RachaelFlatt

"Thinking of everyone in west Colorado Springs/Manitou area. Be safe!... http://fb.me/2e4UKkRiJ"
7:56 AM - 24 Jun 12

PiperGilles ‏@PiperGilles

"Colorado Springs please stay safe with the fire. Its hard to be in Canada right now when your town is under fire watch :/ ‪#ColoradoFire"‬
2:06 PM - 24 Jun 12

U.S. Figure Skating ‏@USFigureSkating

"Thanks to those of you who have sent messages. Everyone here at USFS is safe. Please keep Colorado Springs in your thoughts."
6:56 AM - 27 Jun 12

Jeremy Abbott ‏@jeremyabbottpcf

"Pray for my home. Keep Colorado in your thoughts!"
7:51 AM - 27 Jun 12

Ryan Bradley ‏@RyanSBradley

"Crazy fires in Colorado. My thoughts go out to everyone in its path at home. I hate feeling so helpless"
11:37 AM - 27 Jun 12

[golden411]

And now this ...

Joshua Farris ‏@joshDfarris

"Going to Dallas because of my asthma caused by the massive forest fire in Colorado springs. At least get to see my dad!"
1:15 PM - 27 Jun 12

[colleen o'neill]

I hope everyone will be safe and that they can get the fires under control soon.

[blue dog]

On Facebook, Brandon Frazier (at the beginning of the wildfires) tried to inject some humor into the situation by saying he was gonna roast marshmallows. He seems like a very silly person. Having survived two of these in California during the last eight years, all I can say to people is, if they tell you to evacuate, LEAVE!

[dorispulaski]

Our country, our planet is suffering the ravages of global warming. Fires, droughts, floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, tornadoes, FLA got 2 feet of water. We need to elect leaders and pray they will stop burining fossil fuels and use gree energy. It may be too late. May God somehow open minds and hearts to conservation and protecting the earh before (?) it is too late.

Global warming has been very politically controversial of late, so I am going to move this post to Politics, where I hope we can have an interesting discussion about it, separate from the issue of the safety of skaters, their homes, and their rinks in Colorado.

Thanks for your patience.

Here's the link to the thread in Politics.
http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/sho...es-in-Colorado

[Tonichelle]

Let's keep this thread on the topic of how it's affecting skaters/skating. Like Doris said - a new thread was started that you can take off on other parts of the subject. Thanks.

[vintagefigureskater]

Bryce Davison is there now with a group of skaters. A couple of them have tweeted about the conditions:

Vincent Chan ‏@VinnyCisMe
Literally living in a hotel that is right beside the #WaldoCanyonFire. There is a lot of smoke.

Trav SherriffClayton ‏@OvechkinOwnsYou
@ejc92 Yeah, sorry about that. The fires are still going, we can see smoke on the horizion, and a bunch of stuff is closed. But we're fine.

[Olympia]

This is awful to hear about. Anyone who hasn't been evacuated must be breathing in such junk. Add that to the thinner air of high altitudes, and it must be dreadfully unhealthy. This is in addition to the sheer danger of fires approaching dwellings.

[SkateFiguring]

Imagine how much of the scarce oxygen is being consumed by the fire. And the oxygen producing trees are being destroyed. Nobody, skater or cadet, should be training in such thin filthy air. Is the fire under control at all?

[Tonichelle]

Imagine how much of the scarce oxygen is being consumed by the fire. And the oxygen producing trees are being destroyed. Nobody, skater or cadet, should be training in such thin filthy air. Is the fire under control at all?

no, I don't believe so.

[Olympia]

no, I don't believe so.

No, alas, I read today that it has increased in scope.

[Tonichelle]

No, alas, I read today that it has increased in scope.

yes from what I saw this afternoon it'd jumped another barrier... so scary. That happened a few years ago up here. Martin Buser (4time Iditarod Champion) fought the local authorities when they evacuated his family, he went back for his 100+ dogs and they didn't want him to... he ignored them and went in after them. He lost a couple that got scared and took off into the woods he was devastated, but he saved the rest....

can't imagine being in that area right now at all... the skaters should head for ice elsewhere.

[iluvtodd]

The news from Colorado is heartbreaking. I hope & pray that these fires will be contained as much as possible, and that everyone is safe & sound/safely evacuated as necessary.

[golden411]

6/29/12
U.S. Figure Skating Statement on the Waldo Canyon Fire http://www.usfsa.org/Story.asp?id=48231&type=media

Bullet points:
- USFSA thanks the figure skating community for its messages and thoughts this week, and hopes for continuing thoughts going forward.
- All members of USFSA staff are safe; some staff members had to evacuate their homes.
- For those who have inquired about making donations, USFSA is supporting Pikes Peak United Way's Waldo Canyon Fire Victim Assistance Fund.

[skateluvr]

350 homes lost, 10 people are still missing from those Colorado families, and now terible storms through dc with thousands with no power. All terrifying.