Mabon Moon of the First Snow
First fire.
I now routinely take Turkey Creek Canyon Road to Deer Creek Canyon Road as a preferred route to medical services, most located in and around Littleton, a southern ‘burb of Denver. That meant I missed the road closure on Highway 470, the half ring road that defines the western boundary of the Denver metro area.
470 follows the Front Range starting at I-70, the main route into and through the Rockies going west. About 10 miles south from that point, on the way toward Colorado Springs, the old mountain range that preceded the Rockies creates an upslope that runs maybe 800 feet at a gentle slope from the highway and ends in a ridge of rock that resembles the jagged back of a stegosaurus, Colorado’s state fossil. Bowles Road intersects 470 there.
A helicopter caught my eye as I turned off Santa Fe onto 470 toward Bowles. A news helicopter?
It had a very long cable dangling beneath it with an orange looking pod suspended at the very bottom. Then, the pod opened and a brief spray of water fell toward the earth. Oh.
Okinawa Sushi, a favorite lunch stop is at the Ken Caryl exit, just one before Bowles and when pulling into the parking lot, I saw people standing, looking skyward toward the highway. More helicopters.
After lunch I saw the reason for all this. It was a grass fire that had run from the highway all the way up to the bony ridge of the first elevation. The ground was black in a 33 acre scar. 470 had only one lane open there with several fire trucks, police and other emergency vehicles parked in the other lane and up closer to the fire.
Another helicopter came chop, chop, chop over the ridge, an orange bucket again dangling below. It maneuvered into place and hung there for a bit, presumably awaiting instructions from the ground. Finally, again it released the water which fell onto a scrubby patch of land outside the burned perimeter. When the water hit, spray and smoke billowed up.
Since we moved here last December, the fire danger has been low with a few exceptions. Lots of rain, an anomaly of a year. This was my first exposure to the reality of wildfire. Good motivation for cutting down all those trees. And a reminder of the true nature of our new home.
