Fighting the Fire at Birds Eye View

Friday a few miles away at Birds Eye View, an electrical problem caused a fire that burned a home and over 20 acres. 

Our Sam was right in the thick of it, spending most of two days fighting the fire and digging a fire break control line. He was one of over 50 firefighters working all day Saturday to keep the fire from spreading.

Danny noticed the smoke first, over the bluffs to the northeast of us. When I called Sam, he was already hurrying this way from work nearly an hour across town. Jonathan had been working way across town as well, on a home up the mountain on Old Stagecoach Road , and he'd driven up a little bit where he saw smoke rising on the horizon in the distance and took this picture. 

Meanwhile, I listened to Danny and Hannah who were begging to go see the fire. They were done with school, so away we went. And this below is what we saw!

 Sheriffs and fire trucks and ambulances were hurrying in from every direction, evacuating people from two miles around the fire.

Many were just sitting on the road waiting. They would not be allowed back to their homes till Saturday. Sam walked through smoke so dense he couldn't see the ground and felt dizzy.

A big water tanker met us on old Peyton Highway.

Later that evening, Sam texted to let us know that helicopters were busy dipping water out of a pond in a 500-gallon bucket, and would we like to come watch?

Can you see it flying in the sky?

Now it is flying back toward the smoke and fire.

Sam got this picture (above) from where he was on the ground.

Danny tried to get pictures with his camera.

By evening, the fire had settled down and smoke was not too bad, but there would be many hours of work to get the fire contained.

Danny snapping photos of the helicopters.

This afternoon, we took a ride back to Birds Eye View now that the road was opened back up, and we saw the charred mess. 

"I heard something popping," the homeowner of the destroyed house said. "And when I looked, the porch of the house was on fire." Before the first fire truck could arrive, the fire had burned half the house and had spread to the grass and trees. And the fire truck only had 500 gallons of water. In the tinder dry area, the fire spread fast. It was wise to work fast and furiously, calling in air support, to put it out.

Before it became a Waldo Canyon Fire, or Hayman fire, or Black Forest Fire. 

"Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire..."  May we be part of the teams that work to squelch the fires that spread and destroy from the wrong use of our tongues.