mother nature is on the rag
There is fire in them there hills! The forgottens are burning and it's presently the largest fire in North America. It's burning with reckless abandon across the lovely foothills of the forgottens and taking away most of the scenic beauty of the grass covered ridgelines and the trees of the mountain sides. It's hard to think about what it will look like when I am able to go up there and see it again.
It's started on Saturday when a dead tree fell on a power line and has since grown to a 40,000 acre nightmare. It's moving, at it's best (or worst, depending on where you live) at 10 miles an hour and at it's worst (or best) at 5 miles an hour. It's destroyed 100 structures, threatened the fish hatchery, a bible camp, 1000's of acres of grassland and even more acreage of forest. There doesn't seem to be anything anyone can do. There are over 2000 firefighters working the lines and they have the north and west sides of the fire contained, however, the southern side, which is densely overgrown forest, is burning without attention. There is no way to fight it other than dropping water from the air. The sound of helicopters flying over the house happens every ten minutes and is a constant reminder that we are not out of danger yet. My little town is twenty miles to the north, so I don't think I will see any danger, but this is fire, and it do what it do and ain't no one tellin' it nothin'!
Since the start of the fire on Saturday, there have been people turned to the east to watch this mushroom cloud grow out of the horizon. It's immense size is feeding the even larger sense of impending doom. None of the locals that live here have ever seen a fire like this, the last great fire in the forgottens was 44 years ago and it was a tiny little thing, just a few hundred acres. This fire - this fire is a doozy and the hardcore locals who have seen flood, famine, cordurory come and go (twice!) are testy. Gas shot up to 2.60 and phone calls to people that might be able to help move livestock or house them are being made. There is an uneasy peace on mainstreet. The locals want information and there isn't any, just a lot of hearsay and specultion. The number of trucks, firefighters and "officials" moving through town has all us a bit nervous. The people here don't take to kindly to "officials" and most of them have gun racks because of that anxiety. So the lack of information and the paranoia that is brewing, prompted a town meeting.
This is what we learned....
The last major fire in the forgottens was 44 years ago and there is a large collection of dead timber and undergrowth. This will factor in later. Also. It's been three years of below average rainfall, high temperatures and there is never any humidity here, add to that, a high wind that blows off the palouse on a daily basis and you have fire food. Add a match, and you are in for one hell of a show. I would appreciate it more if the smoke plume wasn't so visible from my yard and everyone wasn't so testy, but a good fire is a good fire.
A better part of the town showed up at the meeting, in attendence were some local, state and federal officials, some firefighters and the media. It was quite the show. I went for volunteer information and came away with nothing. There was, however, a lot of clapping for the firefighters. The chamber of commerce made a statement, I am not sure why, but she loves this kind of thing. The mayor, milled around, but looked lost and was not even introduced by the organizers of the event. In times of a potentially lethal and costly event, the mayor is not someone you want to hear from, he can only make it worse. His real function, as I see it, is to give the benediction at social gatherings and to be a symbol of why this town doesn't work.
The meeting lasted an hour and there were only a handful of presentations, none lasting more than five minutes. A man stood up and talked about the nature of fire, something we are all pretty much aware of. Another man talked about the efforts of the firefighters (clap, clap, clap, clap). The chamber lady said thank you to the firefighters (clap, clap, clap, clap). The state fire marshall said thank you to the fire fighters (clap, clap, clap, clap). Then some other people thanked the fire fighters and there was more clapping. All in all, a lot of clapping for firefighters and no real information other than we should always clap when someone says the word, "firefighter". Little note for you... There were two firefighters at the meeting. Clapping would seem to be a luxury of those not on the line. The statistics we were given should be available on line somewhere. They gave the address, but it had a lot of "dot, back slash, hyphen, underscore" in it and I don't have that kind of memory.
I am ready to go! I am ready to be on that line. To stand up to the fire and kick it's ass. I am tired of not knowing if this fire is really going to threaten my house. It seems weird to think that I could square up to mother nature, but I am ready. Actually, I spent the day yesterday threatening mother nature. It turns out that for two months, I have been watering a weed that was growing in an abandoned pot. Apparently whatever had grown in the pot didn't make it and was pulled out, leaving fertile soil for my special mallow plant. It was the healthiest of all my plants so there was some pride in my efforts. Pulling it out of the pot and throwing it on the ground was hard to do. I am now left with wilted flowers, over-heated vegetables to water. It hit me hard that I worked so hard for nothing so I laughed, then I got pissed off and wanted all weeds to die. I got out the weed killer and went at mother nature with a fury. Twenty minutes into the ridiculous exercise I remembered the quote, "What is a weed but a flower who's virtue has yet to be discovered." I felt guilt and I stopped spraying. Who am I to judge what mother nature does or how she chooses to do it? She wants to burn the forgottens, let her. She wants to plant some weeds so someone will appreciate them, let her.
There is a time to stand up and fight and there is a time to realize that there is nothing to fight about even though the urge may be there. You don' see this very often, now, do you? The fire burns on the horizon as a reminder to me that I am not the will that drives the world. Firefighters are... (clap, clap, clap, clap)
It's started on Saturday when a dead tree fell on a power line and has since grown to a 40,000 acre nightmare. It's moving, at it's best (or worst, depending on where you live) at 10 miles an hour and at it's worst (or best) at 5 miles an hour. It's destroyed 100 structures, threatened the fish hatchery, a bible camp, 1000's of acres of grassland and even more acreage of forest. There doesn't seem to be anything anyone can do. There are over 2000 firefighters working the lines and they have the north and west sides of the fire contained, however, the southern side, which is densely overgrown forest, is burning without attention. There is no way to fight it other than dropping water from the air. The sound of helicopters flying over the house happens every ten minutes and is a constant reminder that we are not out of danger yet. My little town is twenty miles to the north, so I don't think I will see any danger, but this is fire, and it do what it do and ain't no one tellin' it nothin'!
Since the start of the fire on Saturday, there have been people turned to the east to watch this mushroom cloud grow out of the horizon. It's immense size is feeding the even larger sense of impending doom. None of the locals that live here have ever seen a fire like this, the last great fire in the forgottens was 44 years ago and it was a tiny little thing, just a few hundred acres. This fire - this fire is a doozy and the hardcore locals who have seen flood, famine, cordurory come and go (twice!) are testy. Gas shot up to 2.60 and phone calls to people that might be able to help move livestock or house them are being made. There is an uneasy peace on mainstreet. The locals want information and there isn't any, just a lot of hearsay and specultion. The number of trucks, firefighters and "officials" moving through town has all us a bit nervous. The people here don't take to kindly to "officials" and most of them have gun racks because of that anxiety. So the lack of information and the paranoia that is brewing, prompted a town meeting.
This is what we learned....
The last major fire in the forgottens was 44 years ago and there is a large collection of dead timber and undergrowth. This will factor in later. Also. It's been three years of below average rainfall, high temperatures and there is never any humidity here, add to that, a high wind that blows off the palouse on a daily basis and you have fire food. Add a match, and you are in for one hell of a show. I would appreciate it more if the smoke plume wasn't so visible from my yard and everyone wasn't so testy, but a good fire is a good fire.
A better part of the town showed up at the meeting, in attendence were some local, state and federal officials, some firefighters and the media. It was quite the show. I went for volunteer information and came away with nothing. There was, however, a lot of clapping for the firefighters. The chamber of commerce made a statement, I am not sure why, but she loves this kind of thing. The mayor, milled around, but looked lost and was not even introduced by the organizers of the event. In times of a potentially lethal and costly event, the mayor is not someone you want to hear from, he can only make it worse. His real function, as I see it, is to give the benediction at social gatherings and to be a symbol of why this town doesn't work.
The meeting lasted an hour and there were only a handful of presentations, none lasting more than five minutes. A man stood up and talked about the nature of fire, something we are all pretty much aware of. Another man talked about the efforts of the firefighters (clap, clap, clap, clap). The chamber lady said thank you to the firefighters (clap, clap, clap, clap). The state fire marshall said thank you to the fire fighters (clap, clap, clap, clap). Then some other people thanked the fire fighters and there was more clapping. All in all, a lot of clapping for firefighters and no real information other than we should always clap when someone says the word, "firefighter". Little note for you... There were two firefighters at the meeting. Clapping would seem to be a luxury of those not on the line. The statistics we were given should be available on line somewhere. They gave the address, but it had a lot of "dot, back slash, hyphen, underscore" in it and I don't have that kind of memory.
I am ready to go! I am ready to be on that line. To stand up to the fire and kick it's ass. I am tired of not knowing if this fire is really going to threaten my house. It seems weird to think that I could square up to mother nature, but I am ready. Actually, I spent the day yesterday threatening mother nature. It turns out that for two months, I have been watering a weed that was growing in an abandoned pot. Apparently whatever had grown in the pot didn't make it and was pulled out, leaving fertile soil for my special mallow plant. It was the healthiest of all my plants so there was some pride in my efforts. Pulling it out of the pot and throwing it on the ground was hard to do. I am now left with wilted flowers, over-heated vegetables to water. It hit me hard that I worked so hard for nothing so I laughed, then I got pissed off and wanted all weeds to die. I got out the weed killer and went at mother nature with a fury. Twenty minutes into the ridiculous exercise I remembered the quote, "What is a weed but a flower who's virtue has yet to be discovered." I felt guilt and I stopped spraying. Who am I to judge what mother nature does or how she chooses to do it? She wants to burn the forgottens, let her. She wants to plant some weeds so someone will appreciate them, let her.
There is a time to stand up and fight and there is a time to realize that there is nothing to fight about even though the urge may be there. You don' see this very often, now, do you? The fire burns on the horizon as a reminder to me that I am not the will that drives the world. Firefighters are... (clap, clap, clap, clap)
posted by Daniel Loomis | 8:12 AM
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