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Letter: Thank you, fire crews

Our community dodged a bullet on Labor Day when a wildfire ignited under power lines on our ranch in Eagle. Within seconds, 40-foot flames were being blown toward the house, several hundred yards away. It was incredibly frightening but the house and beautiful Eby Creek were spared thanks to the excellent response and work of fire crews, and all the defensible space we have with pastures and wetlands. Greater Eagle Fire met the blaze 100 yards from our front door while the other professional crews tackled its other raging perimeters. After protecting the house, their goal was to prevent it from jumping the creek and igniting the tens of thousands of acres of crispy, tinderbox hills to the east.

How fortunate we were to have such competent firefighters and a fire camp right here in Eagle! Our deepest gratitude to the people of Greater Eagle Fire Protection, Gypsum Fire, Eagle River Fire, Upper Colorado River Interagency Fire Management, Vail Fire Emergency Services, Holy Cross Electric, Colorado State Patrol, Eagle County Sheriff’s Office, Rifle Hot Shots, USFS crews, and the helicopters!

We’re ever grateful for this land’s positive energy, cultivated through decades of love and spiritual tending by everyone who has graced this land with their prayers, laughter, questions, tears, friendship, work and joy. And thank you to the many friends who offered support, help, food, a bed, their love and prayers! We love you all and appreciate being part of such a supportive community. 



While we mourn the juniper forest and mossy rock grotto, we know that the land will recover healthier than before. Fire is brutal, cleansing, transformative, scary, necessary, deadly and regenerative, and we’ll be seeing more and more of it until we make reversing climate change the top priority for humankind. Our survival depends on it.

Please stay safe, and ever-vigilant in the responsibility we each have to the fragile place we hold in the balance of the web of life.

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With gratitude,

Susie Kincade and Mark Chapin
Eagle


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