Smoke gathers over Two Medicine Bridge on the Blackfeet Nation in Montana in August 2015. The Spotted Eagle Fire burned about 50,000 acres before it was contained. Photo from Facebook
The Spotted Eagle Fire posed a threat to a small community on the Blackfeet Nation but other forces of nature intervened. Independent journalist Mary Annette Pember reports from Heart Butte, Montana:
“If the wind stopped blowing, we’d all fall down,” joked Pat Armstrong of the Blackfeet reservation in Montana. To a newcomer, the force that blows here is unlike any other experience of the relatively benign flow of air commonly referred to as wind. The wind here is often clocked at 80-100 miles per hour. It makes the eyes run with tears and rips even the most firmly placed watch cap off one’s head depositing it at an unseen distance far away. Surely such a force should be called something else altogether to note its greatness. Indeed, it was the wind that brought the flames from summer forest fires this year closer to the reservation than anyone can remember, forcing folks from their homes, fleeing for their lives. Remarkably, it was the same wind that also saved the people and their property. Changing course at the last possible moment, it diverted the fire away from the tiny community of Heart Butte on the Blackfeet reservation and its smattering of homes clinging stubbornly to the rugged hills just below the Butte. It was as though an intangible force protected the people. Many people here believe that to be the case.Get the Story:
Mary Annette Pember: The Miracle That Saved Heart Butte From Burning (Indian Country Today 11/9)
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