OhMyGov!

By Jack B. Winn



The U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs is more well known for its rigorous academics than aggressive tweets, but therecent wildfires in Colorado have pushed the military into the spotlight on social media, and Twitter especially.

According toOhMyGov Analytics, approximately 1,354 tweets were recorded about the service academy this week, many of them commenting on the blazes threatening to engulf the school and its cadets. 528 news articles were also recorded about the event--a sign that Mother Nature still commands attention in what is shaping to be a hot, baking summer. Social media provided much of the moment-by-moment reporting of the wildfire as itjumped containment lines Wednesday, sending cadets--and much of Colorado Springs--scrambling for cover.

"That fire in Waldo Canyon has engulfed 35 homes,"@Lakewaylady tweeted early Wednesday morning. "Moving North towards AF Academy and very close to i_25 now.

"Ten acres of the U.S. Air Force Academy is now on fire,"@nug4life wrote several hours later as videosurfacedof smoke rising from hills overlooking the campus, looking more like an opening reel from a movie than news footage.

Access to the campus was limited Wednesday, with many classescanceledbecause of the inferno. Nearly9,000residents in the surrounding area were forced to leave their homes--32,000 in the Colorado Springs Metropolitan Area overall.

"Keep praying for Colorado Springs," BloggerMark Whitlock tweeted Wednesday--around the same time @lakewaylady posted her update on the situation.

The wildfire sparks memories of the 1994 South Canyon Wildfire that took the lives of 14 firefighters and base jumpers near Glenwood Springs, Colorado. The event was immortalized in the book Fire On The Mountain by John Maclean, which was later made into an Emmy-Award nominated documentary of the same name. Glenwood Springs is approximately 200 miles away from Colorado Springs.

Very few politicians and celebrities seemed to join in the conversation, which was mostly dominated by families asking after the safety of loved ones who attend or live near the academy. As the service academynoted in its official social media account Thursday, nearly 550 cadets were being relocated in the wake of the fire, 200 to University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, the others to families willing to sponsor them until more permanent dwellings could be arranged.

Colorado Springs is just the latest metropolitan area to be affected by wildfires in the past several years. A 2009Californiawildfire and aseparate outbreak near Las Vegas, Nevada left many homeless and stretched the resources of personnel in the respective states, bringing into question whether it is safe at all for residents to live near fire-prone areas.

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