MORE THAN 32,000 ORDERED TO FLEE COLORADO WILDFIRE

TENS OF THOUSANDS FLEE HOMES AS
COLORADO WILDFIRE DOUBLES IN SIZE

www.suntimes.com - A stubborn and towering wildfire jumped firefighters’ perimeter lines in the hills overlooking Colorado Springs, forcing frantic mandatory evacuation notices for more than 32,000 residents, including the U.S. Air Force Academy, and destroying an unknown number of homes. The blaze doubled in size overnight to more than 24 square miles, fire information officer Rob Dyerberg said Wednesday. He said homes were destroyed but authorities don’t yet know how many.  Heavy smoke and ash billowed from the mountain foothills west of the city. Bright yellow and orange flames flared in the night, often signaling another home lost to the Waldo Canyon Fire, the No. 1 priority for the nation’s firefighters.  “It was like looking at the worst movie set you could imagine,” Gov. John Hickenlooper said after flying over the 9-square-mile fire late Tuesday. “It’s almost surreal. You look at that, and it’s like nothing I’ve seen before.” With flames cresting a ridge high above its scenic, 28-square-mile campus, the Air Force Academy told more than 2,100 residents to evacuate 600 households.

A curtain of flame and smoke hung above the academy’s Falcon Stadium; billowing gray clouds formed a backdrop to its aluminum, glass and steel Cadet Chapel, an icon of the academy. Elsewhere, police officers directing traffic and fleeing residents covered their faces with T-shirts and bandanas to breathe through the smoke. “People are freaking out,” Kathleen Tillman told The Denver Post. “You are driving through smoke. It is completely pitch black, and there is tons of ash dropping on the road.” Interstate 25, which runs through Colorado Springs, was briefly closed to southbound traffic Tuesday. Colorado Springs Fire Chief Richard Brown told The Post, “This is a firestorm of epic proportions.” And Hickenlooper, who spoke with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano Tuesday, told anxious residents that “We have all the support of the U.S. government. We have all the support of the state of Colorado. And we want everybody here to know that.” Throughout the interior West, firefighters have toiled for days in searing, record-setting heat against fires fueled by prolonged drought. Most, if not all, of Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana were under red flag warnings, meaning extreme fire danger.

 

A towering wildfire jumped firefighters' perimeter lines and moved into the city of Colorado Springs, forcing frantic evacuation orders for more than 32,000 residents, including the U.S. Air Force Academy, and destroying an unknown number of homes. The nation is experiencing “a super-heated spike on top of a decades-long warming trend,” said Derek Arndt from the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. We should ask ourselves why we are always tormented by the changes in the weather such as scorching heat, freezing cold and untimely rains.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Despite all this advancement, at every moment everyone is suffering due to at least one of the following threefold miseries: (1) Miseries caused by one's own mind and body (adhyatmika klesha). (2) Miseries caused by other living entities (adhibhautika klesha). (3) Miseries caused by nature (adhidaivika klesha): Floods, droughts, famines, earthquakes, hurricanes etc are devastating calamities imposed upon us through the agency of nature. ... Even if these come only occasionally, they wreak havoc whenever they come. ... Who can say that he is not being harassed constantly by one of these problems? ... Each person spends every moment preserving their life, belongings, kith and kin, job or post, reputation etc. But the world we live in, takes all these away eventually despite our efforts to hold on to them. Thus a wise person should ponder, "Why should our lives be ridden with the anxiety of facing and tackling one problem after another? Is this all that life is meant for? Or is there a life of eternal joy that is never inhibited by sufferings?"

Śrīpad Radheshyam Das Prabhu :
“Discover Your Self”
‘Vedic Wisdom’ - ‘Cause of Suffering’
Director, ISKCON Youth Forum, Pune President, ISKCON, Pune.
http://nitaaiveda.com/Soul_Science_God_Philosophy/Discover_Your_Self.htm

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
http://www.vedicviews-worldnews.blogspot.com.ar/