Twenty years ago, a young family told us they were moving out. Bend was getting too big. Bend’s roiling growth was too much.

Look at the city now. Its girth. Its height. Its intensity. More than 104,000 people call Bend home. An empty lot impels a double take. Ask how long a person has lived in Bend and it’s like winning the lottery to find someone born here. The proposal for the city’s total budget for 2025-2027 is for $1.48 billion. Twenty years ago, the budget was but a fraction of that.

Bend has been a mission for some who revel in the outdoors. The mountains beckon. Trails await. The river is a siren. Get the timing right and you can ski in the morning, be paddling on the river a few hours later and then find everything from fine, sit-down dining to fine dining from a food truck. There’s almost always something wonderful happening somewhere, as the Go! calendars testify.

In Bend, roundabouts blend traffic device and art. Bend’s not too big to be unneighborly. Bend has the last Blockbuster and a promising university campus. And there’s two – count them two – thriving downtowns.

It used to be said that the Bend experience was: “poverty with a view.” It has become more: “exclusivity with a view.”

Housing costs are exclusionary. Median home prices are more than $800,000, if a home can be found. Rent is no bargain. Access to some of the best mountain trails are rationed by the government to protect them from being overrun.

Other stresses accrete. The song on the wind is likely to be another jackhammer burrowing down. Employers forfeit workers to the high cost of living. There was apparently another homicide on Wednesday. The county sheriff has lied repeatedly, even under oath. 900 Wall closed and we still haven’t gotten over the passing of Rockin’ Dave’s.

It’s easy to find these faults and cracks within the specialness. That’s the way humans are bent. Good things can grow from the cracks. The nature of any place requires nurturing.

The worst fault, though, is that the specialness is perilously perishable. Growth, climate change, crimes and liars are things residents and government can plan for and adjudicate. Wildfire, though, may be the perfect foe for Bend. All could go, burnt like a moonscape.

Wildfire is expensive to plan for. It’s inconvenient to plan for. Wildfire can defy the best efforts at planning and prevention. The state’s attempt to enforce discipline on property owners by mapping risky areas was rejected.

Walk around your neighborhood. How many homes look like they have taken every step to reduce wildfire risk?

The Camp Fire that killed 85 people in Paradise, California moved at times at the speed of a football field a second. Burning embers on the wind can precede a wildfire by miles, leaping ahead where the landscaping or home is welcoming. When we saw the smoke last year from the Mile Marker 132 Fire at Juniper Ridge, we checked the wind.

Gripe about growth, climate change, crime – wildfire risk looms over all. Do what you can to protect what is special here.