I've received a few messages and calls from forum friends so I thought I'd post info here.
Our mountain home is in Prescott, AZ. It's a beautiful community in a rugged, mountainous area.
Two weeks ago there was the Doce fire which was 8 miles from my home. It was scary, but the winds kept it away from us and it is almost out now.
On Saturday, we had the startings of a monsoon storm with lots of lightening. Lightening started a fire in a small town called Yarnell. Yarnell is about 32 miles south of where I am. It started as 8 acres and nobody thought much of it since it didn't spread for 24 hours. Then we got another storm with 50 or 60 mile winds and this fire grew to 2000, then 4000, and now over 8000 acres. That's bad enough, but there were 19 hotshot crews who got caught in the fire and perished.
Back in early June, I was working with some of these very same people, to remove the fire danger from our community. They were young, fit, and their entire purpose was to keep all of us safe. They are well trained and go from fire to fire since they are the best in the country in wildfire management and containment.
I, along with the entire Prescott area, am consumed with grief. It's bad enough to lose these heros, but is even more difficult since I met them just a few weeks ago.
As of now, the fire has consumed about half of the town of Yarnell. It's unlikely that it will hit Prescott, but a few years ago we had a fire that took out almost 500,000 acres in our state. If that happens, we could be in danger, too.
I know this has hit the national news because I've gotten calls from people in LA and even heard from a friend in Hong Kong. Even heard that the president called to offer his condolences.
I didn't want to post anything about this because it's been so awful, but after receiving calls and messages, I guess it's time. So, please pray for the families of these fallen heroes and for this fire to be put out without an more loss of life or property.
Our mountain home is in Prescott, AZ. It's a beautiful community in a rugged, mountainous area.
Two weeks ago there was the Doce fire which was 8 miles from my home. It was scary, but the winds kept it away from us and it is almost out now.
On Saturday, we had the startings of a monsoon storm with lots of lightening. Lightening started a fire in a small town called Yarnell. Yarnell is about 32 miles south of where I am. It started as 8 acres and nobody thought much of it since it didn't spread for 24 hours. Then we got another storm with 50 or 60 mile winds and this fire grew to 2000, then 4000, and now over 8000 acres. That's bad enough, but there were 19 hotshot crews who got caught in the fire and perished.
Back in early June, I was working with some of these very same people, to remove the fire danger from our community. They were young, fit, and their entire purpose was to keep all of us safe. They are well trained and go from fire to fire since they are the best in the country in wildfire management and containment.
I, along with the entire Prescott area, am consumed with grief. It's bad enough to lose these heros, but is even more difficult since I met them just a few weeks ago.
As of now, the fire has consumed about half of the town of Yarnell. It's unlikely that it will hit Prescott, but a few years ago we had a fire that took out almost 500,000 acres in our state. If that happens, we could be in danger, too.
I know this has hit the national news because I've gotten calls from people in LA and even heard from a friend in Hong Kong. Even heard that the president called to offer his condolences.
I didn't want to post anything about this because it's been so awful, but after receiving calls and messages, I guess it's time. So, please pray for the families of these fallen heroes and for this fire to be put out without an more loss of life or property.