Today was
our turn in Eagle. I want to make one thing perfectly clear to all the
victims of all the fires out west this year, and especially to all of my
fellow Colorado residents who have been horribly affected by fire this
year. This post is not here to brag about our town's temporary success
against a lightening strike which started a fire north of town, but
dangerously close to a ranch and housing development. We are extremely
lucky here thus far. The first thirty minutes saw huge wind and flames
growing frighteningly fast and spreading. It was frightening to watch.
Eagle had couple of things going for it tonight, and it's not quite
over. First there was wind from the east, which is rare here, if it had
been from the west there would have been big trouble quickly. The fire
is also burning down and into a bowl feature on the mountain, again this
is due to luck of the winds. Had the fire breached the ridge with
normal NW winds there would be big trouble right now instead of a
smoldering fire that has ground crews trying to get on top of it during
the night hours. Lastly, we live 6 miles from a military chopper
training facility, and Chinook and Blackhawk helicopters were enlisted
after the slurry bomber had done it's damage to the fire with four
perfectly placed drops. It was amazing to watch, and many people were
mesmerized by the process they were watching. The crowd of people gave a
loud cheer every time a drop was made, and all though the pilots of
these planes and helicopters could not see or hear that, they need to
know that. Thank you firefighters. Lets hope for a calm night. My
thoughts go out to every single person who has to now struggle due to
what these devastating fires have done in our beautiful state. This is
an incredibly brutal time for us all...
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