I believe it’s time to say some prayers.

For firefighters who are battling blazes across the vast landscapes of the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles. For those who seek to assist the firefighters. For everyone with homes that might be in the path of destruction.

We’ve had a couple of pretty rough days along the High Plains.

Some firefighters were injured battling blazes in Potter County. What’s more, three individuals have died in Gray County while trying to protect their livestock from the murderous flames.

Livestock has been lost. Property has been destroyed.

There might be much more to come as spring’s arrival approaches and as the traditional “March winds” ratchet up.

This is a dangerous time to live in this wide-open region, in this area with little natural obstruction to the winds that howl across our landscape.

City and county officials impose burn bans. They tell us to take care when operating open flames. They warn us of the consequences if we turn a deaf ear to those warnings.

And yet …

People continue to flout the common-sense advice that flows their way. They flip cigarettes out motor vehicle windows. They light barbecue grills in howling winds, allowing red-hot embers to get blown way beyond their reach.

Let’s all understand something. It is that we’re a chronically dry part of the world. Sure, we had some good moisture earlier this winter. The grasslands are dry at this moment. Never mind the snow that blanketed the region earlier this winter.

The March winds will blow. There’s nothing we can do about them. We can, however, seek to minimize the effect of those winds if we just take a bit of extra care, heed the warnings our local leaders want us to hear.

And some earnest and heartfelt prayer surely cannot hurt.