Fire

[Margarita]

At least thirty homes have burned; we don't know yet about lives lost but a lot of people refused to evacuate. Our son is on the fire line; it's his first week of work at his new job.

Fire burns on. Prayers and positive thoughts for the homeowners and fire fighters would not be taken amiss.

http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/...t#.VhyARP9dFVc

[Margarita]

The fire was 50% contained this morning and is no more contained now. NCFD pulled Quinn and the other two new guys out of training and put them on the lines today. Quinn saw a lot of active duty with two excellent volunteer fire departments in NW Wyoming; I assume the other two new hires have as much experience or they wouldn't have been hired for these highly sought after positions. The fire took a turn earlier today and almost took out one of the fire chiefs and his immediate crew. My husband and I both worked on wild land fire crews in our younger days and are aware of all the things that can go wrong so please forgive a mom's nattering on about this.

Casper is a small community. These are people we know. Our long time veterinarian has undoubtedly been burned out; my son says his street was hit hard. Our farrier is unaccounted for. A legal secretary I worked with for ten years has a house in the path of the fire. The Cheryl in the following story is the person who gave me my AQH mare. This sucks.

http://trib.com/news/local/casper/ev...ntent=headline

[ms_tapestry]

Originally Posted by Margarita

The fire was 50% contained this morning and is no more contained now. NCFD pulled Quinn and the other two new guys out of training and put them on the lines today. Quinn saw a lot of active duty with two excellent volunteer fire departments in NW Wyoming; I assume the other two new hires have as much experience or they wouldn't have been hired for these highly sought after positions. The fire took a turn earlier today and almost took out one of the fire chiefs and his immediate crew. My husband and I both worked on wild land fire crews in our younger days and are aware of all the things that can go wrong so please forgive a mom's nattering on about this.

Casper is a small community. These are people we know. Our long time veterinarian has undoubtedly been burned out; my son says his street was hit hard. Our farrier is unaccounted for. A legal secretary I worked with for ten years has a house in the path of the fire. The Cheryl in the following story is the person who gave me my AQH mare. This sucks.

http://trib.com/news/local/casper/ev...ntent=headline

It won't let me read the story without answering a survey. My thoughts are prayers are with y'all. I survived the great burn of 2011 in west Texas. It was freaky and scary and horrid. Y'all stay safe!

[Ol Mike]

Prayers and well wishes for all involved.

[DAK47]

Prayers from here, we know the feeling.... Hang tough and be there for others.

Dirk

[Margarita]

My apologies, Tonya. The site allowed me in last night and is now asking me for a survey as well even when I sign in with my newspaper account. I'll try and copy the stories later. We're in no danger ourselves except for Q on the fire line and that's both his job and his passion. Idiot child of idiot parents.

Oddly enough, nineteen years ago almost to the day, we evacuated our house in front of a fire originally set by two thirteen year old delinquents and driven by 30+mph winds. Our neighborhood was sparsely populated back then but several outbuildings, private shops, and one house were lost. The fire came within a hundred steps of our house before the fire crews got it stopped and burned all the way up to the walls of other homes. My son was 7 at the time; my daughter was four.

This fire is much, much bigger and more destructive because so many people have moved out onto the prairie in search of space and cheap land in the last ten years, including a lot of people from damper locales who couldn't grasp the warnings about the dangers of wild land fires and set up fire breaks around their places. Many homeowners don't even have wells out there but haul their water in. Helicopters are getting water from the river to dump on the fire.

I can't see active smoke from my house today but don't know if that's because the fire has burned beyond my range of view or because a cool night and diligent fire fighters have finally gotten it under control.

[hornrocker]

[Dinero]

Prayers and positive thoughts for the homeowners and fire fighters.

[Backroad Mike]

May they be safe and they get it under control soon.

We never had anything closer than a couple miles from the house, but there were always massive fires in NorCAL when I was a kid. Past time was watching all the fire retardant planes buzzing the house going to/from the airport all day long.

[Jackwagon]

Prayers for all involved. May your son stay safe and get enough rest.

[RoadWolf]

Prayers from here.

[Fe Butte]

Peayers sent that they can contain it with no further losses.

[Margarita]

Good news and bad news, as could be expected. I don't have the VS radio this week so am getting news mostly from the open channel online and Q's professional channel (when Q is somewhere to share). He got off the line about 9:00 p.m. but isn't home yet. His fiancee works at the ER and says most of the fire -elated injuries went through yesterday so one can hope the worst is over, especially if the winds stay down.

The fire is still only about 50% contained but the wind has dropped and with spotters in the air and a ton of firefighters on the ground, most evacuees are being allowed to go back into Cole Creek to see what's left. 190 homes were threatened; only twelve are confirmed lost with an unknown number of shops, barns, etc. burned. No human lives confirmed to be lost. Total ground burned so far is in excess of 10,000 acres (15.65 square miles), including part of a state park along the Platte River.

Our vet's place burned to the ground but he and all the animals from the place are safe. Keith has been a veterinarian for over 40 years; his clinic was in his house. Another local vet decided this is a good time to retire so he can turn over all his equipment and supplies to Keith, whom no one can imagine retiring. Friends on their way to AZ for the winter are turning their house over to him until he can recover and resettle. We'll see if he needs temporary homes for horses or cats; what's one or two more when one's life is overrun with furries of one sort or another? We'd take dogs, too, but our neutered male and Q's neutered male had a dominance fight this afternoon and conditions in the dog yard are tentative. Who won that battle? My husband, the real alpha dog.

No word from our farrier; Roy will try again tomorrow to reach him. They are good friends and Rick lives alone without family nearby. No word about the friend on the river or several others who were in harm's way but word will eventually get around. We have a couple rooms worth of furnishings and household goods that can go to friends first, with any surplus going to Red Cross.

Victim Services and CERT have not been called out (at least not my sections). I'm done at the museum at 1:00 tomorrow. After work, I will call Red Cross and see if they need extra help processing requests for aid or something. After almost 12 years as a CLA, I can shuffle paper when I can't do anything else. I hate not being useful but sometimes the most immediate useful thing one can do is nothing.

Hear Q's truck. The day is over for us, anyway.

Thanks for the good wishes on behalf of my community and son.

[OKC Fatboy]

Praying for you, your son, and all those affected by this terrible tragedy!

[par_fore]

Prayers from here as well.


Sent from my Illudium Q-36 explosive space modulator