The Monument fire in the area around Sierra Vista has taken a turn towards being far more destructive, including “jumping” Highway 92 in recent hours, with several developments reported as “a total loss” and other areas in forced evacuation states. Our sister paper, the Sierra Vista Herald, is slammed with web traffic (as you might imagine) so their site is only intermittently available at the moment, however, the Herald’s Facebook page is still live and there’s a somewhat chaotic Facebook page which seems to be crowd-sourcing updates.
This article appears in Jun 9-15, 2011.
This is beyond ignorance, its pure stupidity about how all these fires are happening. I’ve heard various stories on how these fires were started; from campers that lit a campfire that got out of control and ran instead of going for help, and a ranger starting one because he needed the work. No matter the stories, the fires are not starting themselves. The Earth is in enough trouble without stupid people adding even more to the problem. And the damage is so great that it will take more than my lifetime to repair!!! My health, along with my friends and family’s health, has been greatly affected. And where is the wildlife going to go? Where is their food going to be? My Mom has a caregiver that can’t come tomorrow because she and her family are evacuating. I’m sooooooo angry about this!!!
I agree with you that these fires were started either way by stupidity. I am sorry for everyone who is suffering and those who have lost their homes. I am also soooo PROUD of all of the firefighters and airmen and volunteers who are helping battle these outrageous fires!!! My hat goes off to each and every one of you. THANK YOU and THANK YOU to the families of these heroes. I APPRECIATE ALL OF YOU!!! It is an amazing thing to see people come together and fight for eachother during times of duress. AMAZING.
What is more amazing is that the Sierra Vista Fire dept allows people to burn leaves etc…in their back yards! Most fences are connected to others yards and one slip up and the whole neighborhood goes up. Yes, there are dolts who still burn leaves instead of using the free pick up service offered by the city.