Yet, as cars filled with weeping residents escape out of harm's way, thousands of firefighters are literally running into the fires. Firefighters are often-unsung heroes and heroines!
It takes raw courage, steady nerves under pressure, an amazing ability to handle physical pain and exhaustion, and specialized skills to fight a western wildfire. Wildfires are uncontrolled blazes fueled by weather, wind, and dry underbrush, which move at speeds of up to 14 miles an hour and can burn acres of land—and consume everything in their paths—in mere minutes. In California, unfortunately, right now perfect conditions exist to aid and abet this destruction: dry weather and drought have converted green vegetation into bone-dry, flammable fuel; strong Santa Ana winds are spreading fires quickly.
Many believe that climate change is making this tragic situation even worse, and putting firefighters into longer, more intense periods of danger. As the global climate warms, scientists say that hotter and drier conditions are leading to more intense and longer-burning wildfires in the western United States. Anastasia Selby fought California wildfires for seven years, Here, on the Vox website, she describes this grueling and heroic calling:
"2018’s wildfires are already proving to be more destructive than last year’s. The Camp Fire near Chico, California has already claimed at least 29 lives, destroyed more than 6,400 structures, and burned more than 111,000 acres since it began last Thursday. It is now the deadliest and most destructive fire in California’s history. Meanwhile, the Woolsey Fire continues to ravage Los Angeles County, burning 85,500 acres. This essay, published during last year’s brutal fire season, tackles many of the same issues as this year’s season.
The mundane days all run together. But those days when I was genuinely unsure if I would make it to the end of my shift intact are the ones that stand out.
"I remember fighting a fire on the Angeles National Forest in 2002. Our crew flew onto a ridge in a helicopter. The rotor wash, or wind created by the helicopter blades, flung orange embers into the unburned vegetation — the 'green.' Immediately, it started burning.
"We jumped out of the helicopter, ran underneath the fire, and started digging. The goal was to quickly create a line free of any vegetation that could burn, called a fireline, which we used to stop fires from growing. Digging fireline is grueling; I often lost myself in the sound of chainsaws and rhythm of my tool hitting the dirt and ignored my physical pain.
"Some of us had to run deep into the green and find embers or put out new small fires before they began burning out of control. There were full minutes when I thought, This may be it. We may not make it.
"I worked as a wildland firefighter for seven years in the 2000s. And so I’ve been watching the smoky footage on my computer of the fires burning across the West this last month with great unease. Take the La Tuna Fire, which ignited on September 1. It was one of the largest fires Los Angeles has ever seen and burned more than 7,000 acres before it was contained. And it’s the kind of fire that is increasingly common in the age of climate change.
"Wildland firefighters are especially attuned to how climate change puts us all at greater risk for destructive fires. We understand how higher temperatures and long-term drought are the perfect conditions for ignition. To us, there’s little controversy that it’s happening, although not everyone believes it’s human caused. I do, and, along with others in the field, I wonder when those in power will take the steps needed to address climate change."
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Right now, in our Catholic Church, the call is out: spiritual wildfires are raging everywhere in the world, affecting millions of people. And God's call to us is as clear as if the Divine Voice is booming over a loud speaker:
"Are you going to run into the fire - or run away from it? Do you have raw courage, steady nerves under pressure, an amazing ability to handle emotional and spiritual pain - your own and other people's - and the ensuing emotional exhaustion? Do you have those specialized skills wrought in you by prayer, prayer, and more prayer? Or - are you going to evacuate? Escape from the dangerous pressure? Leave Me alone (because whatsoever you do to another, you do to Me.) You know where I'll be - right in the fires along side you. Because wherever My people are, there I am in the midst of them."
Oh, yes, we have spiritual climate change going on, activating more and more heated discussions, frayed tempers, and firestorms of disagreement and dissent. The question is - will the resulting wildfires of Just Anger, Protest, Grief, and Demands for Change be generative or destructive for the Church?
People are more and more outraged by the hideousness of sexual abuse, not only for children but for adults - and parents are just as outraged by many clerics' seeming callous insensitivity to the intense, life-altering harm that abuse wreaks on victims. A growing consciousness of women's dignity has laid bare the rampant sexism in the Church and sparked intense debates, which were once actively discouraged, about a Church meant for All which, to all intents and purposes, is still mainly a Boys' Club. And the Pope has warned us about the subtle but widespread evil of clericalism. A bishop must be "blameless" and at the service of God, not of cliques, assets and power, especially if he is ever to "set right" what needs to be done for the church, Pope Francis said in his homily during Mass on Nov. 12, the feast of St. Josaphat, 17th century Bishop and martyr. A bishop must always "correct himself and ask himself, 'Am I a steward of God or a businessman?'''
And there is a new wildfire in the Church, fueled by angry consciences, that calls to the hierarchy and laity to speak up and act for the future of the planet - Mother Earth herself - and her damaged ecosystems. Saving our planet - saving all life - battling climate change and pollution - is the first, most basic, fundamental moral priority, and humans' major responsibility since the Book of Genesis!
Sexual abuse, sexism, clericalism, and a destructive, domineering attitude towards Nature have warped the Church's thoughts and actions for centuries. These 2018 wildfires, generated by the consciences of modern Catholics experiencing a just fire of anger, do not have to destroy the Church. Instead, if we run towards these fiery issues, not away from them, and treat them with courageous listening and respect, and allow them to move the Church towards incremental change and just policies, they will be akin to natural growth wildfires, which are essential for the regeneration of Nature.
"Many forests cannot sustain themselves without natural wildfire, including pine barrens, lodgepole pine forests, Eucalyptus forests and many more. These forests require canopy fires to regenerate because the trees in the forest are adapted to only produce seeds following a major fire event. Hence, fires can be regenerative for the forest, and without them many of these forest types would decline on the landscape....
"How is a fire revitalizing for the watershed? It revitalizes in many ways including, but not limited to, re-cycling of nutrients, increasing food sources for fish (e.g. mayflies), in streams, replenishment of streamside vegetation, dispersal of fire adapted plants, etc… Not to mention renewal of the soil chemistry which is vital to the forest and the watershed... The science backs up how natural wildfire can be favorable through research publication after publication....
"It’s like 'resetting the clock' on the ecosystem allowing it to thrive all over again for another 200 years." (from Big Ideas, the SUNY.edu blog)
Today, in the midst of a wildfire crisis in the international Church, God calls us to be skilled firefighters, willing to run into the fire regardless of personal risk, protecting our people from devastation, creating careful firelines so fires don't grow out of control, putting out any small rogue fires of dissent before they spread and cause undue destruction. Keep faith! We may in the end see these wildfires in the Church as God's means of purification to produce new growth. For our God is a consuming fire! God is a Very Wild Fire Who Ignites Where He Wills. (Hebrews 12:29) And natural wildfires, ignited by holy consciences, are indispensable for new growth.
We should not fear these spiritual wildfires in today's Church. This spiritual Fire Event, happening throughout the Church, is essential for us to produce new seeds of growth and productivity in our communities. Remember - trees in the forest are adapted to ONLY produce seeds following a major fire event! These wildfires, activated by the Holy Spirit, will produce a recycling of spiritual nutrients among an anemic, disillusioned, lukewarm people. This Fire Event can renew the very soil which fertilizes the Vine Which is Christ, on which we are the branches. Taming this Fire so it does not destroy us, but allowing it to purify us, can reset the clock on the Church's ecosystem so that it prospers and thrives for another 200 years!
Come, join me. Grab your gear and run with me into the fire. Battling the purifying flames we will experience exhaustion, challenge, and pain. We will cry out, "This may be it. We may not make it!" But God is the Consuming Fire. In the midst of the flames, we will see the Face of Christ.