but this is the most recent map of the Waldo fire I found, http://kdvr.com/2012/06/26/map-waldo-canyon-fire/

Usually if you plug the name of the fire + map, you'll get something similar. Zooming in and clicking on "satellite" will show you what has been threatened and/or destroyed within that line. Current satellite photos would be useless because of the heavy smoke layer.

I was looking at that area on Google Earth last night. Most of the houses were absolutely enormous and most had small yards choked with trees and other vegetation, nice to look at but a recipe for disaster.

burned over area would show what was lost.

Did you zoom in? Did you look at the streets? Did did you click "satellite" and look at the houses?

It's there. Any house surrounded by trees is likely gone.

Other disasters have similar maps. You just have to look at them.

but yes - that's what we need to be seeing on the news programs.

after the fire has roared through will tell people whose houses are gone, which ones are damaged, and which are standing intact.

Wildfires are weird. When Los Alamos burned down here in 2004, there were street after street of burned out houses with maybe one or two still standing, a little scorched but fine. They're almost as capricious as tornadoes to the east.

If everybody lives, no major medical issues, it's an annoyance, it's not really bad.

Colorado looks pretty serious, but not lots of people dead yet, just some property damage.