Last week our community experienced a prairie fire that burned 15,000-20,000 acres, including part of our property. Apart from the providence of God, it came
close to destroying our home.
Hot, dry weather the last three months
has left the grass parched and the earth cracked. Late Thursday morning,
we noticed smoke coming our way and learned that there was a fire
probably not more than a mile from us. With hot wind gusts up to 50 mph,
we didn’t have much time.
Jonathan got a garden hose busy spraying around the house. But soon the smoke was blowing by looking deadly.
I (Anna) was having to
evacuate with our most important items, having Hannah help me haul out computers, bins of photo albums and journals, and other important items to the Honda. Crystal had been gone to the courthouse to update her documents since she's moved but came out to see smoke and beat it for home.
I took off with the Honda while Jonathan and the children
stayed behind with fire trucks and firemen to try to save the house and
barn. Danny used our poor old skid steer to make a fire break until it
quit working. But what were the odds that a grader and earth mover had
been working not far away and came roaring down to make a fire break?
One fireman told us that he had received the assignment to simply stand
up on the hill near our house and watch to make sure we were okay. This
sentinel stood for hours, like a guardian angel, watching for any fire
spreading our direction or flare-ups.
Other firemen were all over the
place, hosing down at the fire’s edge and keeping the fire from
spreading to our neighbor’s homes as well. Danny is one in the picture above with a shovel.
Jonathan, Danny, and even
Hannah spent the day fighting fires among the trees in the draws and by
the river, as well as using shovels to put out hot spots near the house.
The Lord’s care for us that day was shown in so many ways. First,
Jonathan, who is almost always gone to work, had stayed home to take
care of paper work. Danny was helping a friend extract honey, but he was only 20 minutes away.
Crystal’s babysitting job had been cancelled that day, so she was close
to home. Mrs. Ambrose, our pastor’s wife, insisted I stay with her
where I was able to rest after loading the vehicle and nearly
collapsing.
That very morning, the verses I had been praying over
were Psalm 91:5-6, “You shall not be afraid...of the destruction that
lays waste at noonday,” the exact time the fire was laying waste our
direction. And verse 7, “A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten
thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you.” That
evening, after the fire had passed, we heard that the fire went 10 miles
in three hours and had already burned 10,000 acres. Later we heard it
had reached 30,000 acres, but that got tempered down to 15 or 20,000. Our own rancher neighbor said he lost 70% of
their grass and hay for their cattle.
The scene above is what I saw from the high point of our road when the worst of the fire had passed our place and had already raged on probably nearly 10 miles by that time. I decided to go back home. The fire is still burning above our neighbor rancher's place in this picture, and kept flaring up for days.
Jonathan, Danny and Hannah worked for hours putting out fires in the draws.
Danny got this selfie with a burning tree in the background. They dragged a water tank around to douse fires.
A hillside scene
A fence scene.
We are grateful that about the worst loss we sustained was some fence posts and fencing. The fence had to come down in one area so fire trucks could go through.
Jonathan and Danny hadn't even had lunch. Danny was ill that day, but he worked all day anyway.
I happened to have thawed some smoked grouse the night before, so I sent baggies of smoked grouse pieces out to my guys. Jonathan loved it!
He also was grateful for juicy watermelon!
While the others were gone checking elsewhere for hot spots, Crystal and I noticed a flareup just down from the house. I had filled a couple jugs for just such an emergency, and while I called Jonathan on the phone for help, she dashed down through the scratchy weeds to the edge of the black field. Jonathan promised to be right there while I ran out by the garage to find a shovel. With great and wondrous courage I arrived in time to bang on some clods of burning weeds that she was still dousing with water. Jonathan and Danny arrived about the same time.
The horizon still had spots glowing as darkness settled.
Jonathan and Danny were up
well past midnight checking for hot spots and flare-ups. They and I took turns setting
the alarm and getting up through the night to check for flare-ups
around us.
The next day our neighbor above us said he came and stood on
the top of the hill to look at where the fire had gone, and he saw the
obvious way the fire had veered around our house with a shift of the
wind. He was certain a Higher Power had been at work.
Today
Jonathan filled in for our pastor who was not feeling well, speaking on
the subject of “Protection from the Coming Fire.” Using examples from
our neighborhood’s experiences this week, he shared how God has warned
us that the fire of judgment is coming, but God has made provision to
save us from that judgment through Christ. Then he and I sang together
an old spiritual that my brother Elon, sister Dorcas, and I used to sing as a
trio years ago.
“Oh, my lovin’ brother, when the world’s on fire,
Don’t you want God’s bosom to be your pillow.
Hide me over in the Rock of Ages,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me.”
This
afternoon Jonathan, Danny and a couple church men are going out to
visit another rancher and church friend, Scott, who has also suffered
losses. There are still hot spots. While exploring where the fire
started, today Jonathan and Danny discovered a burning log and walked
down to the river to get jugs of water to douse it out. Pray for rain in
our area and for God to undertake for the losses our neighboring
ranchers are sustaining.
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