I got out today and took some pics of the Castle West fire. The destruction there was absolutely massive! almost the entire building was gutted and areas are so unstable that a crane is being used to lift crews to the upper levels.
While there I spoke with two guys from the insurance company, Andy the son of the pastor of the church right next door which housed people overnight for two nights or so and is now an open door to the firemen and paramedics that have worked this scene. I met a reporter from the Gazette, Perry, and spoke with him for a bit. His job was to speak with the various people coming by and try to eke together another story. He was hoping for someone who had lived there or perhaps was connected in some way. After all, the only story left is the human story, the fire and damage are largely played out.
One interesting thing was that the Coroner had arrived so there was speculation that the two bodies that had been found might be getting removed. We weren't sure about them being removed or how they might be as they are encased in ice from the large amounts of water and extremely cold weather. I didn't stay to see.
I spoke with the photographer from the Gazette and I asked her about cameras and the one she recommended (Nikon D80) is fairly affordable at $550. Her name is Briann (not sure of the spelling but pronounced Bre-An, one word) and she is the cute photographer mentioned in the title of this post. Very cute. (sigh)
As I was heading back to the van I overheard some of the contractors talking with the insurance guys that the Colorado Springs Fire Department used over 6 Million gallons of water fighting this fire. That is equivalent to what some 35-40 homes would use in an entire year for both indoor and outdoor water needs.
The other highlight (Not the photographer, the other one) was personally getting to thank some of the firemen and paramedics. These men are truly heroes. They were on the scene only 3 minutes after the fire was reported and have been on scene ever since, even on their days off according to Andy who has been speaking with and serving these men. Again, thank you CSFD.
I will post some photos here and on the other blog, but Blogspot, with its tiny pics, isn't going to do justice to the chaos on the scene and the detail that is needed to truly understand the devastation. I will try to pick a few selections from the 80+ pics I took.