Q: What’s bigger than 15 helicopters, 3 Blackhawks, 11 Bulldozers and 135 fire engines – plus 1879 firefighters and cost more than 25 million dollars?
A: The High Park Fire
As you probably know, the High Park Fire has been burning for 16 days in Larimer County and has left a 75,537 81,190 acre swath of destruction in its path.
It’s devastating and heartbreaking.
I’ve started to write several blog posts about the fire, but there was nothing additional that I could add that wasn’t already on every news cast and emergency email update. I just couldn’t seem to piece together my thoughts, fears, hopes and frustrations or adequately describe the sounds and activity surrounding the fire.
Our subdivision, Glacier View Meadows was partially evacuated since last week and the rest of us along with Green Mountain Meadows and several others were placed on pre-Evac status.
But, the call to leave finally came last Friday around 3:15 p.m.
What a strange feeling to pack up the car and the dog and drive away, not knowing when we can go home again. Too many are finding out what it feels like to be an evacuee, almost each day more people have had to leave their homes. What do you pack? Where do you go? What do you do? It seems surreal in so many ways.
The things I packed were simple: Some clothing, toiletries, dog food, all of our photo albums and DVDs with pictures that cannot be replaced, my computer and a few of my husband’s favorite guitars. He was in Fort Collins and could not get back home to collect anything else- the road was already closed.
We’re safe at our daughter’s house. Who knows how long we will be here? In one of my previous drafts, I said “I can’t imagine what it would feel like to not be able to go home” but now I know. Thank goodness we have family nearby, a source of refuge and comfort. Not everyone is lucky enough to have family so close.
This past two weeks, my thoughts and prayers have been with those affected by the High Park Fire; our friends and neighbors to the South- but the winds carried it North on Friday and it remains a mighty force…. Still bigger than 15 helicopters, 3 Blackhawks, 11 bulldozers and 135 fire engines, 1879 firefighters, plus 5 heavy air tankers and fixed wing support aircraft.
It lets us know how fragile and powerless we sometimes are against the forces of Mother Nature. It provides a stopping point in time to count our blessings and prioritize the few things (which are not really things at all) that truly matter.
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