With Colorado Springs wildfire 55% contained, fire officials allow residents to return home briefly

The Guardian (UK) via the Associated Press: Cars were burned to nothing but charred metal and only concrete remained of many homes in the neighborhoods most damaged by the worst wildfire in Colorado history. But for residents allowed Sunday to temporarily return to the area for the first time since they fled encroaching flames last week, the fact that other things were left untouched was equally jarring.

...More than a week after it sparked on June 23, the Waldo Canyon fire was still being attacked by some 1,500 personnel. Crews working grueling shifts through the hot weekend made progress against the 28-square-mile fire, and authorities said they were confident they had built good fire lines in many areas to stop the spread of the flames.

The blaze was now 55% contained. It was just one of several still burning in the west, where parched conditions and heat contributed to the woes facing crews on hundreds of square miles across Utah, Montana, Wyoming and Idaho.

In Colorado Springs, a line of cars a mile long queued up at a middle school checkpoint, where police checked the identification of returning residents and handed them water bottles.

...More evacuation orders were being lifted, which will bring the total number of people who remain blocked from their homes down to 3,000 from more than 30,000 at the peak of the fire. Rich Harvey, incident commander for Waldo Canyon, said crews continue to make good progress....

On June 28, the 153rd Airlift Wing from Cheyenne WY use a modular air fire fighting system equipped C-130 Hercules aircraft in support of the Waldo Canyon wild fire in Colorado Springs. Shot by National Guard, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license