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Updates about the Durango-area fires from my aunt.
Entries and Updates
Jun 23, 2002
Dear Kimberley,
We are fine in town thus far, but this fire is very complex and unpredictable and the firefighters can't get a handle on it yet because of our drought -- the worst in Colorado history, including the Dustbowl Days.
We went to a town meeting last night and one of the federal fire marshalls said that a piece of lumber bought at a lumberyard has an average moisture content of 12%, but living trees from which they have taken core samples here have only a 5% moisture content. So we need rain (without lightning) desperately.
Thank you so much for your prayers -- we actually had a tiny bit of rain last night. It didn't dampen the fire, but it raised the humidity in the air so that some progress could be made in herding the fire to the northeast, where population is low. The firefighters cannot put the fire out, due to the drought, they can only strive to contain it and herd it, as one would a bunch of wild animals, in the direction they want it to go. The farther it can be herded to the northeast, the better, but it wants to go west and south as well, and due to high winds it sends embers up to 3/4 of a mile ahead of itself.
The firefighters at the meeting said that in order to put the fire out and not simply control it, we need 9-12 inches of rain within thirty days. As it stands now, the fire will take weeks to totally contain and it won't even be considered "out" until we get the rain, because embers glow underneath the fallen pine needles for weeks on end, threatening to flare at any moment.
The good news for us is that none of our friends are in jeopardy, for the time being, at least -- my friend and her cats have been able to stay in their home thus far, and are several miles from the worst of the blaze.
There are even some firefighters from Australia on their way over here, because there are so many fires burning out west that we have to share firefighting resources and any one of these fires would otherwise warrant all the manpower they are receiving as a group. Truly tragic.
The air is very hard to breathe, but fortunately we purchased three small air conditioners at Sam's Club before all this started, so our air is filtered. Being outdoors for a even a few minutes causes headaches and shortness of breath when the wind is blowing toward town.
Thank you so much for your concern and prayers. We really are fine, and there is no reason to believe at this time that the town itself is threatened --
although in these drought conditions, anything could happen.
All it takes is one spark, and in fact that is what caused this fire -- a cigarette ash. Yet people continue to smoke outdoors and even flick their cigarettes out car windows. That act is now considered "reckless endangerment" legally and carries $1000 fine, but what is that, after the fact? This fire, alone, has already cost over 9 million dollars and caused untold suffering for people and animals.
Fire is one of nature's ways of periodically cleansing herself, but with humans building homes in the forest and on every available hillside, people have really put themselves in harm's way and nature can hardly be blamed for the destruction. What will it take for people to get it?
