Yesterday, Amarillo saw the worst day it ever had in years. Massive wildfires were sparked by high winds up to about 65 mph and they spread around outside the city in some certain areas. I was at my grandma's in Canyon when I got a message from a friend who informed me that there was a high wind warning and that fires were spreading like hell. At first, I thought it was just a small one, I mean, I've seen many fires around Amarillo before and they were usually put out fast. I just went on and watched a movie, then during the movie, the electricity went out twice due to the high winds blowing and hitting the power lines. My grandma said that the roof sounded like it was about to blow off or something. I finished the movie and decided to check my Facebook and was horrified to see reports coming in from the Amarillo Globe News' page about fires spreading and burning so many houses including one business. One thing that broke my heart the most was those people losing their homes and a local kennel was burned down to the ground and killed some animals that were kept there. I told my grandma about it and we changed the channel to watch the news. They showed pictures of the fires and said that a lot of people were evacuated from their homes. They listed areas that were in danger and I realized that one of my friends lived in one of those areas so I text messaged him to see if he was ok. He said he was ok and his house wasn't in danger but his family had to be evacuated from their houses. They ended up having to stay with him overnight because the cops wouldn't let anyone go back to their houses til the fires were contained and that it was safe to reenter. I was getting very concerned and hoped that not any more fires would start once I started to drive back home to Amarillo so I waited til the winds died down. When the winds finally did, I left Canyon and on the way home, I could see the huge smoke in the sky above the city's skyline and could smell the smoke even if it was just 20-30 miles away. I almost wanted to cry and prayed that God would watch over those people and protect them. I'm thankful to God that I have a home and my cats but it still hurts my heart that there were so many houses and pets lost in the fires. You can't replace those kind of things. I never really understood how bad it could be til yesterday when I saw the smokes and realized that it was close to home and those people really did lose everything they had.
Today I was reading the news when I found out the cause for those wildfires in the northern area of Amarillo and felt sick to my stomach. A guy was arrested for trespassing on a private property to cut metals and it was very windy yesterday and he didn't even care. The sparks from the grinding of the metals got into the dry grass and the winds blew them so hard that they spread quickly. People saw him doing that and reported it to the cops. This man is responsible for so many losses and I don't know what he's thinking right now while he's sitting in jail. All I hope is that he's sorry and will be willing to take responsibility for what he has done. And for the other areas affected by the wildfires, there has been no causes found yet but I know we will find out eventually. My friend also told me today that his parents and sister were able to go back to their houses and praise God, their house and animals are ok but have damages inside their houses due to smoke soot and front yards are burned. He went there and said it looked very bad out there. Nothing but a few houses were burned to the grounds and the grass are brown and black all over. All of this was destroyed by a simple mistake a guy made at the wrong time and wrong place.
This tragedy made me feel helpless and sad so I decided that I wanted to help those victims out. I found some information on where to go and drop stuff off. I gathered all of the clothes I don't wear and put them in bags and headed to the Salvation Army. They were happy to take the clothes in and told me that they will be taking those to one affected area tomorrow and the other one by Wednesday. It made me feel good knowing that those people will be getting clothes when they need them the most. I plan on donating some money at a local bank to give to the Red Cross for the victims. And one more thing I can do for the victims is pray to God that He will help them get through this tragedy and give them strength to rebuild their lives from ashes.
Psalm 46:1
"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble."
