Yarnell is a town we've really enjoyed for many years. In the past, we talked about the idea of buying a house in the delightful community just up the hill from Congress. While we were in Alaska this summer, Yarnell was in the news when 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshot crew died in the Yarnell Hill fire. While I was boondocking in the Ghost Town Road BLM area, I took time to visit again.
There is a large display next door to the restaurant at the top of the hill set up to honor the members of the Hotshot crew.
There are two large panels for the pictures and very moving bios of the team, and a third panel with information about the formation of the team.
Just across the road, at first glance things look pretty much the same as always, with tress growing among the very large boulders, but if you look closer at the picture
you'll see the remains of a burned out home on the left side of the picture
and some burned out cars on the right side of that same picture.
It's like driving across a checkerboard with a foundation remaining here and an apparently unharmed home next door, with little to show why some survived while neighboring property didn't. Construction is now underway and Yarnell will rebuild better, stronger!
Please remember the families of the crew members.
The patterns of tragedies hardly ever make sense. The same with tornados in our part of the world. One home destroyed down to the slab, and the neighboring home not missing a shingle. So sad to lose such young men to a fire that could have been extinguished days earlier by a crew of two, or so the news reported days later.
ReplyDeleteHave really enjoyed your posts of the last few days. Looking forward to some more of that desert camping for us in the near future. Great to see Turk doing better, also.
I think you're right about the comparision to tornado destruction patterns. Are we going to have a chance to see you this winter?
DeleteWe have the plans in place. Hoping everything works out. As you know, most of our plans have been kind of fluid the past few months.:-(
DeleteSure hope it works out. Then we can put temptation in your way with some Alaska stories. :-)
DeleteYour photos of the remainder of the home and cars demonstrate that time and nature reduce the worst disasters to just a scar on the land to be noted as a memorial to the tragedy.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad to see those fire fighters being remembered in such a personal, hands-on way. I hope they are never forgotten.
Well said.
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