Color me shocked at the latest update on the Badger Fire.  It was estimated at a little more than 40,000 acres burned yesterday morning.  It had more than doubled by Friday evening and was approaching a burn area of nearly 100,000 acres.

Friday, before leaving work, I was talking with a manager and suggested it likely wouldn’t threaten Hansen or Oakley.  This morning I looked at a map provided by the Forest Service and now I’m worried. 

The fairgrounds is now temporary home to livestock, horses and some other assorted farm animals.  And the animals eat.

Before going to bed Friday I spoke with a friend who lives in an area where she didn’t expect she would be impacted.  Now she’s as well worried.  She shared the story of an older woman who lived much closer to the burn.  The old woman has a horse and it hasn’t been in a trailer in years.  Maybe never.  How do you motivate an old horse to move?  My friend’s home is crowded with family and additional pets as people have fled the most dangerous areas.

If there’s something good to come out of all of this, the people working the fire lines and the supporting players all say they’ve got plenty of supplies.  Toiletries and the like.  The first responders suggest making contributions instead to the Red Cross.  Or contact the Twin Falls County Fair.  The fairgrounds is now temporary home to livestock, horses and some other assorted farm animals.  And the animals eat.

I keep thinking if we can make it through 2020, we can make it through almost anything.  Disease, economic collapse and now fires akin to biblical plagues.

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