Smoke On The Horizon

The monster peeks over the mountain’s peak.

Smoke billowing from an other worldly place.

We have seen fires before, but never one like this, bearing down, gut-wrenchingly close.

Smoke fills our nostrils, burns our eyes.

The Yellow Lake Fire spreads chaos and havoc.

33,000 acres, zero containment, it is the biggest forest fire this year in a state infamous for it’s wildfires, decimating the Ashley National Forest, threatening all in it’s path.

The roads close 2 miles from our beloved home and family’s legacy, ranchers evacuate, animals flee and fill the valley we call our heritage.

As we pack, scramble, choose what can burn and what is irreplaceable, we cry, and the flames just grow higher.

We drive frantically away, while those we never knew and won’t ever know, race towards the threat.

How many firetrucks did we just count?  More than can even be from our own Utah.

We are correct – they have raced to our rescue from all counties, nearby regions, neighboring states.

Bravery, courage, volunteers and professionals, armed with hoses, axes, and most importantly: determination to keep The Promise.

Soon 100, now 250, 500…eventually nearly 900 of the bravest and finest among us fight the true fight.

Planes fly overhead, one after the other, in waves, releasing what appears to be minimal amounts of any agent that could make a difference.

They know that just over the ridge our one hundred year old renovated home, on the National Historic Registry, among all other residents and cabins of our dear cousins and family, await it’s demise, as firefighters work day and night, sleep on makeshift cots, in tents, no showers or clean clothes, punishing their bodies in sacrifice of helping strangers.

They push themselves to physical limits.

All we can do is pray, deliver food, offer to do their laundry so they can attack the forest fire once more after a terrible night’s sleep on the ground.

Mirror Lake Highway closes, campers and families run for their lives, hunters with once-in-a-lifetime tags put away rifles while ushering families of deer into the back of their trucks to get out of there.

Bambi and his Mom make it out of this Disney movie in the back of a redneck’s F-150. The full rack buck sits up front, antlers out the sunroof, with his seatbelt on next to his would be killer. “We’re all in this together” isn’t just a 2020 slogan, it’s the call of the wild – Hoof and a Fist bump.

The unsung firefighting heroes keep clawing their way to mitigate the danger, assess the damage, wonder if the weather will ever stop this heat wave and wind in the middle of October, while looking to the sky and asking, “Where is the freezing rain and usual early snow?”

Finally, prayers are answered, the frost arrives, nature and heaven combine forces to lend some terrestrial relief.

Empowered, the unknown and unnamed keep up the fight – saving cabins and homes, diverting the possible pollution of the state’s essential watershed from contamination, engineering and maneuvering a hurricane of flames under control.

It burned for weeks, torched land untouched by devastation for generations, and has finally subsided.

This all occurred while I was on the road, bringing smiles to unsuspecting audiences, offering my only true talents to the cause I could help as a volunteer myself – as these REAL heroes stayed back and saved our beloved home and Pine Valley.

We don’t know their names, have never seen their faces, but they are in our prayers of gratitude, as they never let up, didn’t give in, even in the face of insurmountable odds.

Thank God for such people who protect and fight for those they’ve never met.

This is humanity at it’s finest.

This is community.

This is love.

This is America.

One Nation Under God.

This is THE PROMISE.

~ Jason Hewlett

Husband, Father, Writer, Mentor, Hiker

• Speaker Hall of Fame * Award-Winning Entertainer * Mentor
• World’s Only Keynote Speaker utilizing entertainment, musical impressions, and comedy to teach The Promise
• Author of “The Promise To The One”
• President of Cardio Miracle.  Go to CardioMiracle.com to take your health back! Use coupon code HEW2024 for 15% OFF your order.

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