I had been looking forward to the dramatic weather change we are currently experiencing. We had had a ludicrously warm weekend, in the mid-70s in Colorado in November. That heat continued through today, and then a strong front rolled up and kicked up winds and brought down temps. It is supposed to dip a little below freezing at dawn tomorrow, and the next night will drop into the low teens. Originally they said we might get our first real snow of the season (not a lot, but more than a trace, so would be official first day), but the forecast is for dry, dry, dry. We will probably set a record for latest first measurable snow this year, unless the meteorologists are way off.
As if this wasn't enough to kill my pleasure at the weather change, at lunchtime I learned that a fire has started up in Rocky Mountain National Park, a half-hour drive from here. The early suspicion is the fire was sparked by a tree falling on electric wires, so to me that says the wind is to blame. We have been keeping an eye on updates, seeing videos, and hoping for our favorite national park and its neighboring community to be okay.
Then the news got really bad. They were ready to break ground, doing something for the very first time in wildland firefighting. They launched a fixed-wing tanker to fly at night, all night, as long as needed to fight the fire. It's very dangerous, which is why it has never been done. Literally the next tweet I read after I read aloud the report of the flight, was a report that the tanker had crashed. Search and rescue teams have been searching ever since. As I write, I am watching local news and reading Twitter, and Twitter is saying they believe they have located debris from the crash. Not yet confirmed on 9News.
Folks, firefighters do the angels' work. Keep them in your hearts. This is hard.
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