Thursday 7/18/24
We continue to be grateful for God’s amazing provision! The rain we received a few days ago was a game-changer, extinguishing much of the fire in the area around camp. There are no more hot spots on the side of the fire that borders camp! The 13% containment includes all of the parts of the fire that were burning toward camp, and as a result, our “Evacuation Order” has been downgraded to an “Evacuation Warning!”
In other great news, River Camp this week is going great! Kids are having a blast rafting, hiking, and learning about Jesus.
Thank you for your continued prayers and support. Due to this good news, we will no longer be posting daily updates, but feel free to continue monitoring our stories on Facebook and Instagram.
Tuesday 7/16/24
We want to thank you all for your outpouring of prayers and support as we have closely monitored the Shelly Fire by Kidder Creek. Today, we are rejoicing in the Lord's provision.
For the last week and a half we have been watching the fire slowly inch closer and closer to our camp property, some days making significant progress, other days barely moving at all.
On Friday of last week, we anticipated the fire to reach Camp…but then… God. During a rare and unexpected break from the winds, firefighters were able to light a strategic backfire which significantly strengthened the defenses around camp. Over the weekend, a combination of lower temperatures, higher humidity, and good winds allowed firefighters to keep the fire at bay, putting us in, what one fire captain called, "a very favorable position."
And then yesterday, the most unexpected gift of all: rain. And not just a drizzle, for several minutes, it was pouring at camp! This had not been in the forecast, and we know it was a gift from God.
At this point, Cal Fire is still present and on the watch as the fire continues to grow in some areas and has very low containment, but we are grateful for the many moments this week that we have seen God actively working to protect Kidder Creek. We are also grateful that we were able to pivot and offer some of our camps for this week and next week from the river, which is a safe distance from the Shelly Fire.
Please continue to pray for the surrounding towns. Please pray for the firefighters who are working tirelessly to protect structures in the area. And please continue to pray that all fire activity around camp will completely cease.
It is not lost on us that our spiritual theme at Kidder Creek this summer is "Forged by Fire," taken from 1 Peter 1:7, which reads, "... so that the tested genuineness of your faith-more precious than gold that parishes, though it has been tested by fire- maybe found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
We were not anticipating such an opportunity to put into practice what we have been studying, but we are grateful that, though tested by fire, our faith may result in praise and glory and honor of Jesus Christ!
Thank you for your prayers and support, we will continue to keep you updated through the Kidder Creek Facebook and Instagram pages.
Monday 7/15/24
Yesterday was a good day for firefighting! Lower temperatures and higher levels of humidity combined with a lack of wind slowed fire growth. According to one of the fire captains Andy spoke with, the line above Timberline is holding strong, and there appears to be hardly any growth in the fire toward ranch camp.
And the best part…RAIN! THANK YOU JESUS! And not just a sprinkle, it POURED for a few minutes at camp! Watching the radar we could see that at about 12:30pm today a small green spot (about 6 miles by 6 miles) appeared over the area of the fire, then grew and grew, showering the area with rain for about an hour, and then just disappeared. This rain was not forecasted, to God be the glory!
Please continue to pray for more rain, and please continue to pray that the fire lines will hold. Thank you for your love for and support of Kidder Creek!
Sunday 7/14/24
We continue to praise God for his miraculous provision and protection at Timberline and along the western border of camp. It appears that the fire line Is holding on that front! We are so grateful!
The Fire grew pretty significantly yesterday to the south of camp after it jumped the Patterson Creek dozer line. The threat is now most active along our southern border of camp behind Ranch camp and along the Taylor divide. Please pray for a similar miracle to what we had happen two days ago at timberline with the backfire.
Please be in prayer for our ministry friends at Rockside Ranch, an amazing ministry that is just down the road from Kidder Creek. Also pray for many homes that are in the Patterson Creek area. Pray for many of our summer staff who we said goodbye to yesterday. Nine are headed to help at Ponderosa Lodge this week, most are headed home early and a few are staying to help finish out what we are able to do through week 9.
River camp starts today! We have around 35 campers arriving today at Curly Jack Campground, a safe location approximately 30 miles from camp where we will be doing programming. Pray for a great week for them! Thank you so much for your prayers.
Saturday 7/13/24
We are encouraged by God's provision yesterday and last night. Yesterday firefighters were able to set some strategic backfires to clear the area between camp and the fire, and it appears to have worked! We are not out of the woods completely, but this represents a significant and positive change.
Please be in prayer for the firefighters as they continue to contain the fire around camp.
Friday 7/12/24
The moment we have been waiting for has arrived: we expect the Shelly Fire will reach the Kidder Creek Camp property today. Thankfully, the slow progress throughout the week has meant that crews have had plenty of time to create defenses around our structures. The closest structures to the fire are the Timberline Cabins (and the 100-ft fire break that has been created is just above those cabins). Hoses have been laid, and crews are ready to attack as soon as the fire hits the firebreak. There is about a half mile between where our property line starts and where the firebreak is, but there are no structures in that area.
We are grateful for favorable winds this week, and we need to continue to pray, as the winds are forecasted to pick up today.
We are happy to report that we still plan to serve campers for the next few weeks, but at various off-site locations. Some campers will be coming to the Santa Cruz Mountains to attend Redwood Camp or Ponderosa Lodge, and we will be running rafting camps on the Klamath River (this is where we always do our rafting, and it is 30 miles away, so there is no risk from the Shelly Fire).
Thank you for your love and prayers.
Thursday 7/11/24
The Shelly Fire continues to grow slowly. Here are some stats from this morning:
The fire made some progress toward camp, and appears to be approximately a quarter mile away from the property line. Yesterday and last night, the fire’s main growth was toward the south (Kidder is to the east of the fire).
Our prayers for favorable winds have been answered! This means CalFire has had lots of time to prepare defenses around Kidder Creek, and they have created robust fire breaks. Now, we’re just waiting for the fire to get to them.
We anticipate a weather change in the next couple of days. The good news is temperatures will be lower (they have been in the 100s). The tricky part is that changing weather often means erratic winds.
Please continue to pray for Kidder Creek Camp.
Wednesday 7/10/24
The Shelly Fire continues to grow slowly. Here are some stats from this morning:
The Shelly Fire continues to make slow progress toward camp. It appears to be approximately half a mile from our property line, and a mile from the closest camp structures.
Up to this point, the fire has been burning extremely steep and impossible-to-access terrain, meaning it can only be fought from the air. Once it reaches camp, fire fighters will be able to fight it from the ground. Other than one small home, camp contains the first structures the fire will encounter. Crews have cleared a 100-foot-wide bulldozer line across camp to stop the fire.
Prayer requests for today:
Thank you for your love for and support of Kidder Creek. We will continue to keep you updated as more information becomes available.
Tuesday 7/9/24
The Shelly Fire spread yesterday, but not as much as it did on Sunday. It grew approximately .25 - .5 miles in each direction yesterday, and remains about a mile (or a little less) from the edge of Kidder Creek property.
Last night the fire was relatively inactive and had minimal growth. This allowed fire fighters to make good progress creating control lines. There are 22 Bull Dozers working on creating control lines (including several actually at camp creating control lines around various parts of camp), and today the priority for the air division is to work on the area between the fire and camp.
We will continue to post daily updates to our Facebook and Instagram pages, as well as on this page. You can also get more information on Cal Fire's web page .
Monday 7/8/24 2:00pm
All campers, staff, and horses have been safely evacuated and are out of harm’s way.
The fire has burned nearly 3,400 acres, is 0% contained, and is about 1 mile from the Kidder Creek property line. Fire crews are onsite and are working hard to prevent damage to our structures. Thankfully, our Kidder Creek staff have worked diligently over the years to clear brush and maintain fire breaks around camp.
Camps for this week have been canceled, and we are in communication with our campers for future weeks.
Please join us in prayer, as the next few days will be critical.
We will continue to post daily updates to our Facebook and Instagram pages, as well as on this page. You can also get more information on Cal Fire's web page .