Burning Up

It is as I feared.  Our long, hot, dry summer has created the perfect conditions for wildfire. 

You have probably seen the reports on the national news. 
300,000 acres are currently burning in just one huge fire in Washington state. That one was a killer.  Three firefighters died when they crashed their vehicle trying to escape the fire. They survived the crash but could not outrun the flames.

Wildfires are burning all over the west.  Here are the fire locations in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. 

 None of these are my photos, of course.  I have taken them from news sources on the Internet.

The most effective way to fight these fires is with fire, setting backfires to burn the fuel in front of the raging inferno. It's up close, hot, dangerous work. 

Air craft are also used, tanker planes and heavy lift helicopters. 

 Today the winds have been blowing in 35 mph in Central Washington, fanning the flames and increasing the spread. 

 Many homes have been destroyed.  Firefighters struggle to save towns that have been evacuated.

 Sometimes even rivers are not enough to stop wind driven fire. 

Where there is not fire, there is smoke. Residents are suffering from smoke laden air in areas not impacted by flames - at least not yet.

It's only the  middle of August. If our weather is typical, we won't get heavy rain until mid to late September. 

We are cooler here on the western side of the mountains today, with onshore airflow moving in off the coast to bring light rain and cool air this morning. Today it was 70. Yesterday it was 90. But there is not much relief east of the mountains, and our respite just increased their winds. 

Many of our wildfire fighters are young people working summers to put themselves through school, or loggers out of work, or they are volunteers from city departments, or National Guard called into service.  Keep them in your thoughts and prayers.