We’re back in FL so this doesn’t directly affect us, but it’s close to where people we care about are. NM developed two fires that I know of today. One is at Three Rivers, near where we camped when we went to southern NM. We actually camped one night very close to the fire’s location before realizing there was FRAT (fire retardant associated toxin) and moving out to the wilderness. Pray for the folks at Three Rivers Ranch. We lived out on the BLM land there a couple weeks, and this could be a huge blow to them bc much of the income these ranchers get is from letting people hunt on the ranch owned land and this fire could ruin habitat as well as grazing land. So many rancher’s are at half or less their capacity of cattle bc of the drought that losing any grazing forage would be a terrible blow. The fire in Three Rivers went from 30 to 4000 acres today and is 0% contained. I doubt this fire could spread over to Jim and Welda’s place or to Carrizozo, but you never know.
The other fire is up north close to Simcha and his family. Tonight the wind blows it away, but during the day the wind will blow it towards them. Everyone is on high alert and watching it. Fire season brings lots of struggles for mold avoiders because it limits where we can go in order to not be in the thick of the smoke and when they fight fires with fire retardant, it causes FRAT that most of us react to for many years after the fire.
Please pray that God sends rain and for protection of people who live on the land that’s burning/nearby and those fighting these fires. Pray people will evacuate soon enough that there’s no risk getting stuck on a mountain that’s ablaze. It’s wind season in NM so winds over 20 mph is the norm and extraordinarily not helpful in fighting fires. Because the state pastime seems to be theft, also pray that people who evacuate aren’t victims of theft too.