Getting excited now about bringing the paintings home to Colorado where they began. I could not be more grateful to the Colorado Springs Fire Department, the City of Colorado Springs and the National Homeland Defense Foundation who are 100% responsible for making this happen. I’ll board a plane on Monday but the paintings should be delivered to the Colorado Springs Fire Department on Friday.
I will be honored to share the stage with Colorado’s governor, John Hickenlooper, Co. Springs’ Mayor Steve Bach, and Co. Springs’ Fire Chief Rich Brown at the 11 a.m. opening on Friday, August 31. The exhibit will be open free to the public until September 11, 2012 at the CSFD HQ and Museum at 375 Printers Parkway.
I am also looking forward to meeting Co. Springs firefighters who had their hands more than full earlier this summer with the fire that raged on the edge of their beautiful city. That fire unfortunately broke the record of houses lost to wildfire in Colorado (300+), breaking the record held the last couple years by the wildfire that raged in the foothills of Boulder in 2010, taking out about 150 houses. On 9/11/01, I had been living where that fire raged. About 90% of my former neighbors lost their homes.
I often say that Colorado is where I learned about fire. It’s easy living in America’s cities to not have fire high in your awareness. Unless your own house burns, it’s not really on your radar. In America’s West, that’s not possible. Fire danger – and fire mitigation – is something everyone must consider.