Smoke plumes over the fire in Colorado Springs. (Wikimedia Commons)

Thirty-two thousand people have been forced to leave the Colorado area where a raging fire has doubled in size, destroying homes and closing the campus of the U.S. Air Force Academy, according to CBS News.

The flames crossed firefighters' perimeter lines in the hills overlooking Colorado Springs, and 9,000 residents were quickly evacuated. 

The Waldo Canyon Fire, as it's called, is the top priority for firefighters across the nation. 

CBS News: "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."