Words to Stir the Soul: Joe Pelle

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Photo Courtesy of the Center of the American West, by Honey Lindburg

Over the weekend, somewhere around 15 families lost their homes to a wildfire west of Fort Collins. That experience is painfully familiar to victims of the Fourmile Canyon Fire, which burned outside Boulder just over 6 months ago. Joe Pelle is the Boulder County Sheriff. To mark the 6-month anniversary, he was asked to pick a reading that reflected his experience with the fire. He chose “The Big Burn,” by former New York Times reporter Timothy Egan.It’s the story of a huge wildfire in the west back in 1910 that killed 87 people.

Sheriff Pelle shared his remarks last month at an event called "Words to Stir the Soul," which was sponsored by the Center of the American West at CU-Boulder. Click below to hear other highlights from the event that we've aired on Colorado Matters:

You can hear a podcast of the entire program on the Center of the American West's website.