In case you haven't heard the news, Black Forest of Colorado Springs is having wildfires. 92 houses are gone, many more trees have burned, even the Royal Gorge has caught fire.
My parents' house is near the edge of Black Forest. You can see smoke from a distance in the back-yard, but its not like you can breathe in the smoke, or that its raining ashes or that our house has been evacuated, either voluntary or mandatory.
We talked to a source who confirmed the fire coming close enough for all of us to be evacuated is extremely doubtful. Nevertheless, we have a box of our birth certificates, social security cards, bonds, other important papers as well as photos in case an emergency happened.
Its been only one year since our last forest fire, up in Waldo Canyon. My mom's friend who lived in that area stayed at our house until the fire cleared. When being to told to evacuate, she jam-packed her car with clothes, school supplies(she worked as a teacher) family photos, books, plants, food, basically if she could fit it in her car she took it.
It neve occurred to me watching her unload her stuff that I would be at risk at being in the same position just a year late, let alone wonder what bare essentials I would take.
So what exactly would I take if worse came to worse? I would take my Walt Disney Classic Collection, Callie(my movie star), my ever-growing autograph collection, my family videos, my computer, my iPad...and to my surprise that's really it. Sure, I'd hate to see my big DVD/Blu-Ray collection go, but aside from the home movies, all of them are replaceable(unfortunately, some would argue physical home-video is on its way toward extinction thanks to streaming sites like Netflix). I have plenty of stuffed animals, but I really only need a couple of them. My books are pretty replaceable, my comics would be a big loss financially, there are only so many boxes I can take and there's too much junk like my various toys, games and junk in general for me to sort our in a pile and decide what I view valuable and what I could live without. I guess the fact this isn't a huger scare for me is the part of me that has grown-up.
While my stuff appears to be safe for the foreseeable future, research has made me realize other aren't so lucky. I found out on Twitter today that a teacher I had for high-school lost his house. Other friends have since evacuated and are waiting to see the fate of their home. My heart really goes out to them.
Frankly, I've always thought living in the forest was a horrible idea. There are no cities nearby, no big buildings, too many trees and wildlife, an is in complete isolation. (CO really seems to attract more isolationists than in any other state, CO is the place that inspired The Shining after-all). The fact its more prone to wildfires is just another reason in a very long list why no one should be living in Colorado.
Time will tell is the fire is the result of climate change or kids playing with matches. Still, I can't help but dread the fact how it rains literally every single day during the summer in Colorado, except for that one week wildfires appear.
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