It Smells Like Campfire Outside

High Park Fire Larimer County Colorado (Photo credit: Striking Photography by Bo)

It smells like campfire outside, and it’s not a good thing. The High Park Fire is burning outside of Fort Collins (about 40 miles north of Boulder), and so far has consumed over 43,000 acres (over 8 square miles). The fire was started by a lightning strike 3 days ago. It started in the late evening, only 2 acres, and as the winds picked up over night it grew and grew and grew.

What I want to talk about here is how selfish it is to even start a fire. The last 2 fires I remember hearing about in Colorado were both caused by people. 2010’s Four Mile Fire, here in Boulder, was caused by a fire pit rekindling. The owner of said fire pit was a firefighter! He thought he’d done everything he could, but the fire still won. About a month ago there was the Hewlett fire, that was started by a camp stove.

Now, I have friends who are getting married this weekend and their website claims that “in staunch defiance of the fire ban,” they will have a bonfire at their havdalah kumzitz. I want to yell and scream at them that there are TWO synagogues within 500 feet of where they want to have this bonfire, but I don’t have the balls to, so instead I’ll be passive aggressive and hope that they read this.

If someone who knows my otherwise awesome friends who are getting married on Sunday reads this, please pass along this message to them. I don’t want to bring them down before their wedding and I don’t feel close enough to call them out on this bullshit.