If you pay attention to national news you have probably heard of the out of control wildfires in Colorado, especially the Black Forest fire northeast of Colorado Springs. To give you an idea of how horrible this fire is, yesterday at this time we were being told that 92 homes had burned to the ground and right now the number is at 300. UPDATE: Just after I published this post the number was put at 360 homes lost.
Terrible times bring out the good in many folks. There was a line a quarter of a mile long to drop off food donations at the local food bank, food for the families who had lost their homes and for the firefighters. They are 600 strong.
Many people are there for the animals as well. I was happy to retweet a photo of a fireman who had entered an evacuated house to get their cat. He succeeded. I'm sure it wasn't easy knowing cats. Animal sanctuaries in the area that had to evacuate received a ton of help, and that makes my heart glow. I haven't heard of any cases where evacuees were not allowed to grab their companion animals, just stories to the contrary: your companion animals are your family so get them and get out.
In 30 minutes.
Many people interviewed said they had 30 minutes.
Would you be able to get out in 30 minutes with not only your human family but your companion animals and important material things too?
I thought about this after watching all of the news stories of people having to evacuate.
Miguel the dog would not be happy. He is nervous to begin with. Suga the dog would be happy for a car ride. Monty the dog hates car rides. Rock the dog would not be happy but at 16 would deal with it. Then there are Chin and Cheng the chinchillas. What in the world would we put them in?
Passports, wedding photo, laptops, my favorite t shirts...
My answer to this question is "I don't know". I mean we would of course do it, but we are not prepared to do so and do not have a plan.
It's time to create a plan. A "we need to get all of us out of here in 30 minutes" plan. I'm not freaked out about this or trying to create drama, I just think it's important. And not only for us, but mainly for our companion animals who depend on us to make sure they are always safe.
By the way, I have asked a photojournalist if I can use one of his photos. Waiting for permission. If you'd like to see a bunch of photos go to Google images and put in "Black Forrest Fire".
Thank you for reading. By the way, I am trying to find reliable information on how you can financially support animals and their families. As soon as I have that I will post it.
This post made my heart swell and my eyes tear up at the same time. I used to live in Colorado so I hold a special place in my heart for it. When I was there, wild fires didn't seem as prevalent or perhaps my memory is bad.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of "you have 30 minutes" gives me a lot to think about today about what is important in life.