There was a fire downtown, and three businesses burned.
Durango has a flair for disaster, and has had a good stretch this winter. A few weeks ago two kids skiing down a ridge in town were caught in an avalanche. There must have been a dozen rescue vehicles there, and since the kids were wearing avalanche beacons they were in fact rescued. Most of our firemen have attended avalanche rescue workshops, so what could be better than rescuing an avalanche victim within city limits? As it turned out, that was just a warm up.
Downtown was filled with fire trucks and firemen from towns as far as thirty miles away. A three building fire that threatened to engulf a city block had everyone working together.
There were stockpiles of oxygen tanks and of water
and our firemen were heroes, every one.
Enjoyed your note on heroic firemen, Leecie, and the fine photos of the emergencies in Durango. Wonderful that the 2 kids (or their parents) had the presence of mind to equip them with avalanche signals—a true life-saver. Our experience was more of thoughtfulness than emergency, but they were heroes nonetheless. A storm knocked down the two acacia trees in front of our house…one falling onto a parked car, partially crushing it. A fire truck chanced by, stopped, the firemen all climbed out, pulled the tree off the car, cut it up with their chain saw and piled the logs neatly in front of our house. The car owner could still drive his car and did so (no lawsuit, thank goodness). The firemen waved goodbye, climbed onto their truck, and went off, looking for more good deeds. Despite its big-city problems, San Francisco can be a small town, and a friendly one. Love, Uncle Don
A friend once told me that New York (which I see as a big city) is just a series of villages. Sounds like San Francisco has that same quality! Leecie
thank you, dude