GENESEE, Colo. (KDVR) — In the town of Genesee, it is a sight for sore eyes. Patches of snow can be seen on the ground, and some rain fell Wednesday.

“I was thankful. I was grateful. It’s a gift. It gets the community to relax knowing that the summer is going to be long, hot and dry,” Genesee resident Chris Nims said.

Nims said about an inch of snow fell here a couple of days ago, just enough to keep fire danger low for now. Still, his family is not taking any chances. 

“We’ve got to-go bags ready to go. Chances are, we won’t be up here if they order an evacuation,” Nims said.

The fire chief in this community was glad to see snow as well. Genesee’s firefighters, who have helped battle many wildfires, say they’ll take any moisture they can get. 

“It’s been great with the snow and the rain. We’re taking a pause to enjoy that,” Genesee Fire Protection District Fire Chief Jason Puffett said.

It is a reprieve for now. But there are troubling trends.

“Year to date, we’ve already had 84. That’s a lot of red flag days. It’s so easy to say just another red flag day and become desensitized to that. It’s really important. We live in such a high-risk area. We need to take red flags seriously,” Puffett said.

Nims certainly is. He’s mitigated his home. In the community, trimmed tree branches and fallen limbs are also being hauled away.

“We also had some evacuation drills last summer where the whole community was involved,” Nims added.

Genesee is grateful for snow and moisture this week. Many know a challenging dry summer is just ahead.