There's a fire in Indian country

Over the weekend I noticed a plume of smoke in the mountains. Didn't think much about it. Until Monday, when I arrived at the Clinic to the news of a wild fire in the mountains about 15-20 miles north of Tohatchi. In the sacred mountains where the Navajo have been taking their sheep to graze during the hot summer months for centuries. Sheep are very important to the Navajo. They use their wool in the fantastic rugs they weave and the meat is a staple of their diet.

We were expecting perhaps a run of patients that were worried about smoke inhalation. But on Monday it was business as usual. I saw one "grandma" (all elder women are grandmas and middle aged women are aunties) who had spent the entire day on Sunday evacuating herself and her sheep to Shiprock. Successfully. With the help of community members that drove trailers up the mountain and moved them with her. Oh yea, she had had an hour of chest pain after she was done, but she wasn't too worried. It went away.

The fire spread, with the help of very substantial wind gusts, up to 55 MPH, on Tuesday.  We saw fewer patients than usual. I guess everyone was out helping their community members. It now encompasses 12,000 acres. We opened the Clinic this AM, when it is usually closed on Wednesdays, thinking maybe someone would need something extra. A few folks came in to get early refills on their meds since they had had to leave them behind when they were evacuated, but no one else. They are now cutting fences to let the livestock that remain out to escape on their own so tribal members will stop trying to get past fire lines to save them. A patient today told me she was up the mountain just last week taking pictures of flowers and wild horses. No drama. She is clearly upset, but accepting that these things happen. Of course, this fire was caused by a careless human throwing hot ashes into the woods. But I have yet to hear an accusatory voice.

I remember a time at LCC when there was a small amount of smoke or vapors in a building. We couldn't keep up with the hysterical folks running in to get checked. In this world, things happen, good and bad; some you can control and some you can't.

Google Assayii Lake fire if you are interested.