I hate fire season. Big-ass fire to the west of town. We can see trees crowning from our parking lot here at work. Winds gusting up to 47 mph at 3 p.m. There was no fire there an hour ago. Way to the north and west of our house, but...it looks like a bad one.

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We may have dodged a bullet here. I've been admiring how nicely they've thinned the forest to the west of town and down south of town. They did an awesome job, obviously. So far, they say it's only about 200 acres. It's a bloody freaking miracle. The way it was corking along at 5 p.m. scared the snot out of me, and not just me, a bunch of other folk who were standing there watching it. The newsies say there was no crowning, which is a crock of shit; we saw crowning big time as it topped a ridge--trees blasting into flame as we watched. But I think the wind shifted, and it ducked below that ridge and (thankfully) stopped crowning. Crowning wildfires are a Bad Thing--that's the sort of behavior that causes rapid wildfire spread. Power's out where OmegaDad's office is, and to the west; the fire burned a substation to the ground. We (so far) are SO FUCKING LUCKY. That thing, with the wind behind it, was aimed like a blowtorch down Old State Route, straight into town. Of course, I do have buds who live in one area which was evacuated, and I know a trailer park (I think this was OmegaBro's old trailer park where he lived when he was getting his fuddy duddy here) was evacuated as well. We'll see what tomorrow holds.

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I hate fires with a passion. Hate, hate, HATE fires. They scare me and make me panicky. (Obviously.) And when a forest fire is only 2 miles away, pouring gouts of black puffy smoke into the sky...::shudder:: The forest thinning projects have been a political hot potato, with lots of folks trying to stop them--don't log old-growth trees, don't do this, don't do that. I have to say that the thinning projects around here have been exceptionally well-managed (in my very inexpert opinion). Yes, the area looks shredded to hellandgone the year the thinning is done, the ground trampled, the remaining trees looking somewhat forelorn, but an area OmegaDad and I regularly drive through was thinned last year and this year looks lovely. It has gone from hundreds of trees per acre crowded together in what are known as "dog-hair thickets" (because they look spindly and thin and tall with very few branches and all bunched up like weeds) to something like 10 trees per acre. Much more open, much healthier (in this lackadaisical gardener's opinion), and a lot of space for wildflowers to grow. Perhaps all the enviro-lawsuits helped get thinning to this point. Yay! But the forests around here are scary dry, with lots of dead trees due to bark beetles and drought, and crowded like an overgrown row of lettuce in a vegetable garden. Perhaps, rather than suing, they could work with the forest service and other gummint agencies to follow this type of project management? The forests directly around Hippy Dippy Enclave in the Wood haven't been thinned yet, but there are plans to start this year or the next. My heart may be sad to see some old friends go, but, frankly, a lot of those old friends are going already. My head says, "GO FOR IT!" And my superstitious side casts an eye heavenward and asks the Kozmik All for a few years of "normal" rain.