Wildfire anxiety mounts amid fast-moving blazes and repeat evacuations

Late last month, Anitra Cornish could see smoke coming from over the hill by her home in Eureka, Utah. Once she started seeing flames from the raging Iron Fire, she told her 86-year-old aunt that it was time to pack up and leave. They returned home after five days, only to be evacuated again about 24 hours later. She described it as a frustrating and stressful week.

“We almost lost our home the first time,” Cornish said. “You’re just wondering, with the second time, are they gonna save it again?”

Cornish is among thousands across the West facing uncertainty as wildfires spread, fueled by months of dry weather and a record lack of snow this past winter in some places. Some residents have evacuated, wondering if they’d have a home to return to. Others are prepared to leave if fires change directions rapidly. Firefighters’ friends and relatives worry for their safety, while some are mourning the loss of firefighters who died fighting back the blaze. The stress is expected to linger, with the dry conditions threatening a destructive fire season.

“Right now we’re set up for extreme fire behavior,” said Jennifer Balch, a fire scientist and geography professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

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More than 9,000 personnel have been working this week to contain blazes around the country, including more than 50 large fires, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Last weekend, three firefighters were killed in a wildfire along the Colorado-Utah border. Evacuations have been ordered in Arizona, Washington, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah.

Rapidly shifting fires fray nerves

Chantelle Geyer was prepared to evacuate Sunday night as smoke from the Gold Mountain fire billowed over the mountain by her house in Ouray, Colorado. By Monday, the fire was moving away from the town, but officials told everyone to be prepared to leave if conditions changed again.

Geyer’s 19-year-old daughter has been a “nervous wreck” and thinks they should all leave, while her 8-year-old son did not want to go to sleep Sunday, she said.

“You just don’t know what the fire is going to do while you’re sleeping,” Geyer said.

Her family recently moved to Colorado from South Africa and are still settling in, she said.

“The thought of potentially losing that and have to start over for the second time in a year, is, yeah, it’s not a great feeling,” Geyer said.

People worry for their loved ones fighting fires

Sarah Brubeck Schnurbusch was nervous any time her best friend Emily Barker left to fight wildfires. She’d ask Barker to text her once she returned to safety. Her anxiety rose if she didn’t hear from Barker for a couple of days.

Barker was one of the three firefighters who died in the Colorado blaze. Brubeck Schnurbusch said Barker was so highly qualified that she was always confident her friend would be OK.

“You just always knew Emily was going to come home, because she just always did,” Brubeck Schnurbusch said, adding: “She was just the most humble hero you’ve ever met, the most hardworking person.”

Randy McClintock is immensely proud of his firefighter father, Steve, for risking his life to save others. His father is stationed near the Grapevine fire in Nevada — and still battling blazes at age 70.

But the pride Randy feels is tempered by anxiety every time his father’s pager goes off.

“He is probably one of the most selfless people I know, and he very often has to sacrifice time with his own family,” he said. “He’s my hero.”

Some face uncertainty over rebuilding

Joseph Armeanio watched helplessly through a remote camera as the Aspen Acres fire spread rapidly across his Colorado property. He hoped to return to save some things, but he couldn’t get there fast enough.

“It’s kind of heartbreaking to recognize you’re not going to make it in time,” he said.

Armeanio was building a house on land that also served as a family campground. He hasn’t been able to go back, but he assumes the property is a “total loss,” he said.

Living in Colorado, wildfire concerns are a regular occurrence, and there’s only so much property owners can do to mitigate the risk, he said.

“I really hope people learn to get out of the way,” Armeanio said. “If there’s any benefit from watching me lose everything, I hope it just wakes people up.”

In Utah, Bret Van Leeuwen lost about three-fourths of the small ranch he co-owns to the fast-growing Cherry Fire.

Even as smoke cut visibility, neighbors were helping cut wire fences on his ranch so cattle could escape, but at least six calves died.

“As you drive across it, you can see the bloated bodies laying on the barren earth,” he said.

Ranchers will spend the coming days sorting the cattle that have been found.

Van Leeuwen is hopeful he will be able to rebuild, but some lost more. Ranches provide the only income for some neighbors.

“That is devastating to that rancher,” he said.

Coping with wildfire anxiety

Psychologist Thomas Doherty suggests taking things one day at a time.

“Just focus on the day to day, making sure you yourself, your family are fed, hydrated, safe,” or think about your evacuation plans and social support. “When you’re in a disaster, it will pass. These things do not last forever.”

Global warming is also making these fires worse and more common, said Balch, the geography professor.

“What’s happening with the larger picture of climate change is, it takes just a little bit of warming to lead to a lot more burning,” she said. “And fire is very responsive to that temperature increase.”

Cornish was able to return home Sunday, and she was hopeful the fire would not come close again. But she is ready to leave just in case.

“We just need to pray for rain,” she said.

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