We live on the edge of a range of hills in the western United States. We have not had rain for over six weeks and the 100+ temperatures of the past month have turned the grass tinder dry. You could almost spark a blaze by glaring at the grass.
This past week, a backhoe hit a rock while digging a trench on the dry hillside, and a fire erupted. The driver jumped down from his machine to stomp out the flame, but at that moment a dust devil wind caught it and flung it across the dry foliage starting a rampant wildfire that tore over the hills and doubled in size each day until it was over 20,000 acres in size.
I was a valley away when the fire started, completing my work day with a few errands at the stores. When I came out to my car and saw white ash falling on it, from a clear blue sky, I said to myself, "this isn't good." Within an hour a heavy smoke had filled the skies in both valleys. 200 firefighters and planes with water and fire retardant immediately began fighting it. But as quickly as a firebreak was built, the fire would jump it.
Our winds normally blow from the northwest. And each day generally brings a stiff wind. The fire roared over the hill and should have gone south down the other side where a subdivision of a 100 homes were built. That would have been the expectation...and the residents were scanning the horizon with trepidation.
But, out of the ordinary, winds began blowing from the south. The fire burned into dry uninhabited valleys and farms, then turned north without damaging any homes. Although, even four days later the firefighters are still trying to get the upper hand, the residences are safe.
We could say it was a twist of nature. We could say, it was just luck. But with the dryness of these hills, and the brittleness of the grasses, it could easily have meant a devastating loss of homes.
Myself, I can see God's protecting hand in this. There were a lot of prayers going up from my neighbors this week.
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| photo thanks to Brian Griffiths, August 2016 |
