Amid the festivity of this weekend's Wagon Days parade spectacle, the thousands of spectators should save some extra cheers for the heroes of last year's heart-stopping Castle Rock wildlands fire.
This time just a year ago, hundreds of firefighters, medical personnel and law enforcement officers from local agencies and from distant states joined with the brigade of federal smoke eaters on the frontlines and in the air to battle the blaze to a standstill.
They achieved the near impossible--preventing a single structure from being burned and avoiding any serious injuries. It was a remarkable outcome in view of the grim iconic photos of fire devastation from California infernos.
Nothing was high-tech about that accomplished mission. It meant days without regular sleep, meals on the fly, working in scorching heat, no time for showers, being bone-tired.
Just how unlikely was that feat? The flames devastated more than 48,000 acres while hundreds in the north valley fled their homes during more than two weeks of touch-and-go fire fighting.
As a result, the "troops" in that battlefront won a special place in the hearts of every Wood River Valley resident and their special, enduring thanks.
In the Wagon Day parade, several units will represent some of those heroes. As they pass, people who survived the suspense of the Castle Rock blaze owe them a special accolade—a crisp military hand salute, extra lusty cheers or a thumbs-up.
Without them, this year's Wagon Days and the first anniversary of Castle Rock might well have been celebrated with a backdrop of blackened ruins—or not at all.
