My friend, Nancy emailed me a website of a fire north of town and wondered if that was our dog’s boarding kennel. It was. I recognized it immediately and called Mary, the owner, to offer any help she needed. The kennel was fine, but the house was burned so badly that it had to be leveled. Check it out.
I felt so bad for Mary, who has taken such loving care of Tipper, the Wonder Husky, when we travel. Tipper loves her “Auntie Mary,” and doesn’t even look back when we try to say good-bye to her. Mary has several show Huskies that look just like Tipper, and she treats our pup as one of her own. She sends Tipper home with a major grooming that makes her look like a show dog.
We have had strong winds here the last few days. There is a fire up near the Bobcat Ridge area, the same place that burned in 2000, a year of terrible wildfires. The City of Fort Collins bought that land, and created a wonderful mountain park with riding trails, and handicapped accessibility. The park has been closed for a while because golden eagles are nesting.
A rancher took out a burning permit to burn off areas of his land. This is a common practice out West. Ditches are burned off so water can flow. He failed, however, to ensure that the fire was totally extinguished, contrary to the terms of the permit. He’s in some deep trouble now. The winds picked up just a few embers and the fire exploded. It is close to Barb’s place, where Scooter recovered last year after his surgery.
Most fires are either due to lightning (not this time of year,) or carelessness of people. No one knows yet the cause of the fire that left Mary homeless. Mary was heroic in safely evacuating all animals boarding at her facility, which was untouched by the fire, but five people were left homeless, including Mary.
How well we know what fires can do in Australia. This fire season has been an extreme one as you are probably aware. The loss of human life, the loss of homes, towns and of course animals has been devestating. The road to recovery is going to be a long one. The people left homeless can find food and shelter, but for the native wildlife and other animals, the is no feed growing, there are no trees to shelter in. Some of the fires that roared mercilessly through Victoria were intentionally lit. One arsonist has already been caught. Was this person wanting to cause the catastrophe he did, or was he just lighting a fire to boil a billy on and make a cup of tea? Does it matter? The days were extremely hot, it was windy, the ground crackled under foot…and there was a total fire ban.
By the way thanks for the visit and comment on my site
http://hotmiddlescence.com
Thank you for commenting, Brigit. Mary was featured in an article in the local paper yesterday as starting the process to rebuild her home. Her boarding facility is doing well, and all animals were returned to her care. Mary said in the article how her clients were calling like crazy asking to help. Tipper is sending her a gift card soon. Tipper loves her Auntie Mary.
I feel for all Australians affected by the fires. We, too, have wildfires. Right now, our area is so dry and windy, that anything can set off a fire disaster. The other day, there was a fire in Arvada, west of Denver, set off by a train’s wheels throwing sparks for five miles. A 92-year-old lady lost her home. Not insured, but I’m thinking there is some liability involved on the railroad’s part. Their right of way was what caught fire.