Castle Rock Creep
An incident on day 3
As the fire & brim approached K-Town, Col. Kinderhook grabbed the shutterbugs off his home-office desk. He leapt in with Sergeant J.J., into their impervious vehicle and headed out that old hot springs road.
J.J. hit the wipers on intermittent, to keep the ash brushed off. They waved past the barricade and did a radio-check. It was a gusty day and the fire threatened town more so than before. Not all the fighting aircraft were designed to fly in such winds.
They rolled around the bends for some wellness checks. The last of the moving vans had rolled out hours before, but there were always a few stragglers in these situations. Suddenly, coming down a pass, they spied a sheepherder trailing most of his flock down the steep ravine with fire creeping hot down its side. J.J. and the colonel hopped out the truck for a closer look. Minutes later, some baby lambs started coming down the trail, which was now the only escape route. The lambs were being closely tailed by a trio of Navaho fire fighters with knives drawn and large appetites for fresh meat.
For safety purposes, I hope that those in charge of the top commands are screening each other properly to ensure they are getting enough rest to make these vital decisions, with their sharpest judgments.
ReplyDelete(Remember the snow removal worker a few winters back that worked all night, and then after dumping his load forgot to lower his truck, knocking out cable for half the valley)
Moreover, I hope that the local chambers of commerce, various businesses and others will soon meet together to start planning a special parade to honor the firefighters, once they have finished saving our town. Surely, they will all want to get home whenever that happens, but the least we could do, is reward them with a grand send-off.
Although we will miss the Ore Wagon festivities this autumn, a celebration honoring the multitude of heroic lifesavers, now here in our presence, could be looked at as even more meaningful than the parade we will miss.