Fire and Rain

June 16, 2006

Our son, Peter, sent us a blurb this morning about a fire near Westcliffe, Colorado, that has burned about 700 acres. Immediately I checked out a couple places on the internet to find out more information. What I learned was what I expected, but it strikes terror in my heart. I think it would be easier to deal with it if I was in Colorado right now and could see with my own eyes what is actually happening.

My great-grandparents on my mother’s side of the family homesteaded just east of Colorado Springs just before the turn of the last century. My great-grandparents on my father’s side of the family had a ranch farther east of Colorado Springs, somewhere in the vicinity of Limon, Colorado. All of this family history to say … my family, on both sides, has been in Colorado for well over 100 years now. And in all the years of my growing up, from both sets of grandparents as well as my parents, I heard over and over and over again – conserve water! Colorado is dry, water is precious, don’t waste water!

Colorado is known as the Mother of Rivers because 4 of the major rivers in the United States start there (the Colorado, Rio Grande, Arkansas, and Platte Rivers). Each of these rivers starts high in the mountains as little trickles of water flowing down the mountainsides. Other little trickles join together until there are rushing creeks and streams and then rivers, flowing ever down, ever seeking a lower elevation. Three of the rivers flow east, two toward the mighty Mississippi, one to the Gulf of Mexico. And one of them flows west, the incredible Colorado River – a river that brings water to literally millions of people and parts of two countries every year.

When most people hear the word “Colorado” they probably think mountains, snow, skiing, vacation, Aspen, maybe even we older folk think John Denver and Rocky Mountain High. Yet in reality, the Rocky Mountains, the snow belt of the state, are less than half the area of the state. The western part is the Colorado Plateau and the Great Basin Desert. The eastern half is part of the Great Plains, known in history as “the Great American Desert.” (Although the Great Plains are not a true desert, they are dry.) When I think of my home, the beautiful state of Colorado, two words come immediately to mind, and they always seem to come together – ‘mountains’ and ‘dry.’

And in recent years, a third word comes immediately to mind – fire.
From the Associated Press yesterday, I read: “"It's very dry, more dry than I've seen it since we lived here," said Coker, who has lived in the area for four years. (Custer County, near Westcliffe, Colorado – the fire burning there is only 10 miles from where we lived for 7 years.)
The Rocky Mountain Area Predictive Services issued a red-flag warning for a huge swath of southern Colorado, meaning conditions were favorable for big, fast-moving fires. The warning spanned the entire width of the state and ranged as far north as the Denver area. (My parents and our children live in the heart of this area, in the mountains, surrounded by trees which are very dry due to this drought.)
At least 60,604 acres have burned in Colorado this year, said Larry Helmerick, spokesman for the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center. That compares with 41,048 acres for all of 2005. It was still far below the 619,029 that burned in 2002.
"It's so dry out here that it doesn't take more than a spark to start a wildfire," said Jamie Moore, director of emergency management for Douglas County south of Denver.”
And “More than half of Colorado is experiencing severe or extreme drought, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center.”
As I read these words, I am reminded of the voices of my youth, saying over and over, “Conserve water!” “Don’t waste water!” “You don’t need to use so much water to shower, take a bath, wash the dishes, etc. etc.” Even today, I never let the faucet just run. I don’t pre-wash my dishes before I wash them. (I’ve seen so many people wash everything off in running water and then rewash the dishes in hot soapy water and then rinse in running hot water – using two or three times the amount needed to actually clean the dishes. All I can see is the wasted water running down the drain, water that could and should be used, every drop of it, used to the fullest extent possible because it is precious and might not be there in the future if we continue to use it that way. Sigh. A legacy from my childhood!) I take short showers. (usually – really, dear husband! They could be a LOT longer!) I feel like it is an extreme luxury to fill the bathtub more than 4 inches with water for a bath – so I usually shower instead. I empty glasses of water into houseplants instead of down the drain. But I have not come to the point where I reuse the rinse water from doing the dishes to mop the floor or clean something else…!

So, Colorado is on fire once again. And I worry about my family’s safety. I have concern for our things in storage in a shed on my parent’s property – photos, tax files and other papers, keepsakes, furniture we owned before moving here and hope to use again when we return home permanently. But all of these are in God’s hands. He has kept it all safe before. During the Hayman Fire, which came within 15 miles. During the smaller fires that have broken out within a five mile radius and have been quickly extinguished. Fires started by lightening, fires started by man’s carelessness. God really is in control of it all.

I pray for rain, Father. Soft, gentle rains that will have time to soak into the soil, not run quickly off as so often happens, stripping away top soil in the process. Days of misty clouds covering the mountains and valleys with gray-white fog, pine and spruce trees absorbing moisture through their needles, rehydrating clear to the tip of the roots, drops of water hanging from each individual needle to drip and give moisture to the thirsty plants below in showers of liquid diamonds. I pray for summer thunderstorms that bring rain to the prairies, greening the grasses and making the lightening strikes less likely to start raging grass fires. Father God in heaven, you know what my homeland needs and you have promised that you will bring rain upon the righteous and the unrighteous alike. Father, please bring the needed rain!