On June 18th, a devastating wildfire erupted on our family's property.

Completely scorching large sections of the property, totalling my dad's work vehicle, destroying his only work trailer, and burning down a 12-month greenhouse my dad built.

The fire came feet from his house and nearly took everything.

My dad, Wind Clearwater, has land in a small canyon near Paonia in Western Colorado (Lawhead Gulch).

He was hauling a trailer with his 2012 pickup truck, which up to this point, has been functioning great. It was acting a little strange and making some weird noises when he pulled into the parking area near the house. Smoke shot out from underneath the car and flames licked up over its hood. He wasn't able to get the hood of the truck open because the vehicle was too hot and his first fire extinguisher did not seem to help the situation much. That's when a gust of wind came through and transferred the fire from his truck to a large juniper tree next to the road. The Juniper was up in a matter of seconds, and because the truck was in the middle of the road with a trailer attached, my dad's other vehicle was now trapped on the property, as well as making it difficult for anyone else to come onto the property. My dad's dog ran away, and he had enough time to set up two sprinklers and drive his remaining vehicle to the very lowest point on the driveway.

"After an attempt to extinguish the fire, I came to realize it was more powerful than me and I evacuated the canyon that I have lived in for 22 years, saying goodbye to all the life I had created for 2 decades." - Wind

The truck fire spread through the pinion juniper forest, hot and fast, burning 35+ acres of land and coming within less than 20 feet of the house.

"For those of you that know me, you know I am not a person to ask for help.... This is one of the most humbling moments of my life. We feel amazingly blessed that our house did not burn down. However, some of my essential tools, tools that I use to survive and make a living...my truck, my trailer, and my greenhouse I use to propagate plants for my nursery. I'm coming to my family and friends to ask for support and help to regain some of my life back. This amount is a small amount of what is needed to help jumpstart my life again. Thank you for supporting me and helping me recover. Love you all... so much appreciation and gratitude"

We are hoping to take this opportunity to create educational material about; the fire, fire restoration, and fire preparedness in Western Colorado. We will document the restoration efforts and plan to Help Others living in Western Colorado with fire restoration and restoration plans in the future