fires and prayers

Please keep these folks in your prayers as this fire continues to rage out of control. Several towns have been evacuated and homes lost. I can not imagine the loss they are feeling. I just dropped off some supplies to the Red Cross specifically for them. Don't forget to pray for the firefighters as well, they do an amazing job.

Arizona Wallow Wildfire

Despite the tragedy of homes and town being destroyed there are some shots.

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This one just says it all
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Have to only sort of agree with Don, a powerful image that third one. But I think it draws much of its power from its context. So really the series is a powerful one. From the 'macro' of the plumes and flames, drilling into the 'micro' of the blaze on the ground and the effects on the people. Please don't get me wrong its good as a standalone photo but as the climax of the story it has far more BANG! So a great series and top-shelf story-telling Dave. As a series it demonstrates Fragility and Strength - our fragility in the face of the awesome power of Nature and the strength of the human heart. Again, something image three doesn't necessarily say on its own, but together gives context to the child's discontent and the mother's thoughts and feelings.

Well done and thanks for sharing.

As Kyte said, you have our heartfelt Aussie sympathies. We have lost far too many people to fires over the years.
 
Ya, the series is full of the strength of the firefighters and the distress of people.

It must be tough to watch as a fire of that size draws nearer and nearer and there is nothing you can do to save your home. The firefighters are an amazing bunch. They work so hard to try and slow the fires progress and save homes, but sometimes despite all they can do, it is not enough.
 
Have to only sort of agree with Don, a powerful image that third one. But I think it draws much of its power from its context. So really the series is a powerful one. From the 'macro' of the plumes and flames, drilling into the 'micro' of the blaze on the ground and the effects on the people. Please don't get me wrong its good as a standalone photo but as the climax of the story it has far more BANG! So a great series and top-shelf story-telling Dave. As a series it demonstrates Fragility and Strength - our fragility in the face of the awesome power of Nature and the strength of the human heart. Again, something image three doesn't necessarily say on its own, but together gives context to the child's discontent and the mother's thoughts and feelings.
Yeah, agreed. It would work very well as a standalone, but in this sequence it works overWHELMINGLY well. Great shot. I grew up in AZ and have always been amazed there haven't been more fires like this. I hope they get it under control, save those people and towns, and learn some lessons from it as well.

-Ray
 
back and forth

Yeah, agreed. It would work very well as a standalone, but in this sequence it works overWHELMINGLY well. Great shot. I grew up in AZ and have always been amazed there haven't been more fires like this. I hope they get it under control, save those people and towns, and learn some lessons from it as well.

-Ray


There is a constant back and forth between the state forest service and environmentalists.
The forest service constantly wants to do forest trimming and controlled burns in an attempt to limit these kinds of massive fires.
On the other side, the environmentalist want to let nature take its course.

The news clippings say that the fire was man made, (an unattended camp fire), and then is spreading through an area full of grasses and overgrown trees.
 
Yeah, I remember those debates (I spent most of my life in the west - now on the east coast its not something I'm as acutely aware of). Without getting too far into it, letting nature take its course made a lot of sense before we started suppressing fires and started developing forested areas with homes and neighborhoods. Now there's way too much "fuel" out there to let nature take its course unless you're willing to take out a LOT of those homes and neighborhoods and force a lot of nice people (like the mother and baby you portrayed so well) to move. Unless we're willing to do that, we have to do a lot more thinning and controlled burning to keep the fuel levels down so that when fires inevitably do occur, they don't take out massive areas like this. If we'd let nature take its course from the beginning, we could do so now. Since we didn't, we can't start now or the result will be what we're seeing and much worse. I'm not a forestry expert, but I had friends and colleagues who were when I lived out there.

-Ray
 
so true

We should not be surprised when nature takes it's course. Nature does not stop for man.

If you live in Florida, you have threats of hurricanes, Oklahoma, you fear tornado's, Maine has bitter cold and blizzards, Mississippi has regular floods, here in AZ, it is heat and wild fire's. And that is just here is the United States.

Yeah, I remember those debates (I spent most of my life in the west - now on the east coast its not something I'm as acutely aware of). Without getting too far into it, letting nature take its course made a lot of sense before we started suppressing fires and started developing forested areas with homes and neighborhoods. Now there's way too much "fuel" out there to let nature take its course unless you're willing to take out a LOT of those homes and neighborhoods and force a lot of nice people (like the mother and baby you portrayed so well) to move. Unless we're willing to do that, we have to do a lot more thinning and controlled burning to keep the fuel levels down so that when fires inevitably do occur, they don't take out massive areas like this. If we'd let nature take its course from the beginning, we could do so now. Since we didn't, we can't start now or the result will be what we're seeing and much worse. I'm not a forestry expert, but I had friends and colleagues who were when I lived out there.

-Ray
 
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