Numbers or Names? The Durango Herald editorial on fire naming (July 10) would have me believe that nothing of significance can be identified by a number. Accordingly, there must be no significance in numbers such as 1275, 486, 748, 11-22-63, 54-40, 3.14159265 or 81301. I would contend that the significance lies in how one perceives the events of one’s life and not in how those events are labeled. Railroad enthusiasts would easily recognize engine 486; a whole generation of Americans found significance in “54-40 or fight”; my generation can tell you exactly where they were on 11-22-63; we commonly search on the web for things close to us with 81301; and any engineer or mathematician worth their salt easily recognizes 3.14159265 as it affects our lives each day. Fire # 416 will be recognized by all who were evacuated and had their lives put on hold for a month for the rest of their lives.
What fails to get recognition in the Herald is that first responders were on the job for 415 incidents prior to #416 and that to date this year they have responded to 748 incidents through Durango Dispatch. Oh, and I would ask the Herald editorial staff to identify their place of business without the number 1275. I for one am glad that the identifier on a fire is not left to a journalist.
Gary Thrash
Durango
