Fire

This has been a roller coaster week. Last Sunday a wildfire started in Coronado Monument and this last week it has just blown up. CJ doesn't think we're in any danger and our neighborhood hasn't been under pre-evac or evacuation at all, but seeing the black billowing smoke almost every afternoon has been pretty nerve wracking. The majority of our ward has either been evacuated or been in pre-evacuation and church today was only an hour, in order to let those who were in pre-evac stay close to home in case they had to evacuate, which most of them did. It's a terrifying looking fire, thanks mostly to how little water we got this winter and the 40+ MPH winds we've had this week. The Monument Fire, as the news is calling it, has burned over 20,000 acres and at least 47 homes, and they're saying it's going to be awhile before it's out. If you are the praying type (which I hope most of you are) please say a prayer for the brave firefighters out there fighting this. It's been a very unpredictable fire and they are all putting their lives on the line for us here in southern Arizona.
The news outside of southern Arizona hasn't really said anything about Arizona's wildfires right now, even our "local" news in Tucson didn't really talk about the Monument Fire until a few days ago when it jumped the highway. It's frustrating to feel ignored like that, like we're not big enough news. So many people are displaced right now, the animal vets and pet hotels are overflowing with pets that had to be evacuated, the riding club is housing over 200 horses whose owners had to flee the fire. This is not a minor event, at least not to us. But the Sierra Vista community has pulled together so amazingly. There's so many acts of service everyday, the first day that they put out a call for things for the firefighters they actually had to say "no more" because they got such a response.

The first night of the fire:




Tonight's fire: (it's gone through 3 canyons since the first night, possibly four)


Mercy's been fascinated by the fire. It caused her horse camp to be cancelled, and ever since then it's all she talks about. Well, that and her new library card. Go figure.