THE DAILY GRIST…“But clouds bellied out in the sultry heat, the sky cracked open with a crimson gash, spewed flame-and the ancient forest began to smoke. By morning there was a mass of booming, fiery tongues, a hissing, crashing, howling all around, half the sky black with smoke, and the bloodied sun just barely visible.” …Yevgeny Zamyatin
Monday, August 17, 2015
It’s hot and dry here in Sonoma County today. It was not quite so hot, but still very dry as I drove home one afternoon a couple of weeks ago. I saw huge mushroom cloud of smoke as I drove north. Often I see little billows of steam from the geothermal plant at the geysers but this was completely different. Huge angry looking grey clouds of trouble.
What I was looking at was the beginning of the Rocky Fire in Lake County. And about a week later, driving home from the Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival, I saw another mushroom cloud which was the beginning of the Jerusalem Fire. Now the two fires have merged into one blaze which is fortunately now mostly contained.
Fire on the mountain
Run boys run
In 1994, I stayed in Montana with a friend whose husband was a fire fighter. He was a smoke jumper and was away fighting fires at the time so I never got to meet him in person. Unfortunately, he had just lost some of his Montana buddies in a fire that killed 14 fire fighters. I can only imagine what kind of courage it takes to go into such a cauldron and try to tackle an inferno which might race up a hillside and make you into toast.
They say that where there’s smoke, there’s fire. But for us here in Sonoma County (Lake County’s neighbor), it’s the other way around. We didn’t really have much of an impact from the big fire until Saturday, when a shift in the wind brought an eye stinging bite to the otherwise pleasant breeze.
The Devil’s in the house of the rising sun
As I fetched the morning paper on Saturday, I noticed a very strange orb in the eastern sky. The sun was a bloody red color. It was an omen of things to come. My weekend bike ride was filled with smoky air and my eyes are still burning.
When your heart’s on fire
You Must realize
Smoke gets in you eyes
Fire season is upon us. Everything is tinder dry and it will be a while until the predicted El Nino arrives. And the word on the street is that we will have a “Godzilla El Nino” this year.
I can’t wait for the rain, but it may come with a price. Our climate is crazy these days. I see the fire engines go by on the highway every day and I hope that nobody gets hurt and that homes in the fire zone are safe.
Won’t be the water
Be the fire next time
This winter could be different. I hope we’re ready for the water.
