FIRE!!!—Thursday, March 23, 2017

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Sunday afternoon I looked over our fields and saw a huge plume of smoke!

HUGE…of course I didn’t think to take a photo of it.

Hoping it wasn’t a farm on fire we drove down to see if we could help.  Although, as we started down we were passed by a fleet of fire trucks heading toward the Rubidoux Canyon.

Now most of the  Roubidoux Canyon is the ranch of Mr. Davis and his daughter. (There are other homes and farms and BLM land down there, but they are way at the other end of the canyon.)

(Davis settled they whole canyon and the ledges just above the canyon many years ago when Delta was just opened up for settlement around 1881 or so.)  This is a photo of the hold home place in 1882.

The canyon is the winter home of the bulls, the horses and the cows and yearling calves.

And it is posted!

Still people trespass and ‘camp and picnic’ on their property.  Leaving behind broken glass, beer cans, all sorts of nasty trash.

Sunday a careless camper started a campfire to cook potatoes; the result was a canyon on fire.

Our oldest daughter and Jason were down in the canyon  when the fire broke out and were able to help move the bulls to higher ground.  Teresa Davis and other members of the Davis family moved the rest of the cows and calves.

The fire was so intense it even jumped the river.

Sigh!

We haven’t gone down to see the damage, I’m sure it’s extensive.  What a sad mess.  What a hard lesson for that camper to learn—the whole thing is a bad deal.

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

50 thoughts on “FIRE!!!—Thursday, March 23, 2017”

  1. People just don’t understand! Red flag warnings out over here today, with 60 mph winds in the forcast ahead of snow. Scary. I am glad they got the cattle out and didn’t loose any of them or homes. But the wildlife… It’s just scary. Hope you get some of the forcasted snow, too!

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  5. I do hope that the camper gets a really big bill for that! Mr. Davis needs to be compensated for his loss. And, the cost of fire fighting is astronomical. I’m guessing that at least some of the response was from volunteer fire dept.They need to be compensated too. And then there is the matter of trespass. That should be a hefty fine too! I don’t have a lot of sympathy for people that do stuff like this. I know that some people will say that the trespasser probably learned his lesson, and maybe he did. But the bottom line is that what he did was illegal, and caused damage to another person. I have to deal with trespassers too, and I’ve heard every excuse in the world. Thing is, if someone will just stop and ask, I usually tell them where they can go explore, picnic, swim, park and if a fire is ok or not. Grumble. I am so sorry you had to have that worry and that your neighbor had to suffer the loss!

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    • We get so sick and tired of the people picnicking on our little pond, crossing fences (and breaking them) to hunt and just plain scatter trash. The last time someone was caught he said he had permission…Terry said by who—the owner–huh…I’m the owner. The guy slunk off.

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  9. I’m so glad everyone including animals are safe. I certainly hope the owner will prosecute the camper. Or… could he get a court order to make the camper help him on the ranch for a certain amount of weekends to make restitution? Sometimes knowing what ranchers/farmers go through, by living/working it, is a huge eye opener. Just my 2 cents.

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  11. You don’t like to ban open fires, but really, some people just aren’t safe around matches… It’s getting harder and harder here to find campsites where open fires are allowed, for exactly the reason you’ve written about. What a mess….

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  13. I’m glad that fire didn’t result in loss of life or of livestock. It would be nice if that ‘camper’ got some time in the pokey to reflect on things that can go wrong when trespassing and starting open fires.

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  16. I always worry about that where you are. Did you every hear about the Rodeo-Chediski fire on June 18, 2002? We were evacuated during that one and it made a real believer out of me. One careless person can cause so much damage. When that wind blows across the high desert, it only takes a spark. Glad everyone and everything got out of harms way. But there is still damage. Shaking my head here. 😦

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  18. So glad to read that everyone and animals were safe. I agree, these trespassers/fire starters need to stop! After the horrible fires north of me, we have cleared a fire break around our buildings, etc. One of those fires was started by a tire blowout and another by a safety chain dragging on the ground!

    Hope you do get some rain—me, too! We need it–the thunderstorms last night missed us completely! We had winds over 60 mph. yesterday and are to get that bad this afternoon again. Lots of blowing dust!

    Take care, Blessings!

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  24. I’m always floored that people will give no heed to a no trespassing sign and be able to enjoy themselves. I have asked several people how they would feel if we came and camped on their lawn. I don’t think it gets through to them that this is private property.

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