And We're Back

Smoke from the 242 Fire behind the house.
The small dot to the left is one of the 2 Scooper planes
that flew between the lake and the fire for 3 days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've been meaning to start writing again and what with being in the middle of major national event, now seems a good time.

This post is going to be about Fire. Coincidentally, my last post in December of 2018, was also about fire. Seems to be theme. An other theme, I've been meaning to write about is the differences between the East Coast and the West Coast. And here too, Fire is the perfect place to re-start.

On the East coast, and mid-country for that matter, fires are serious, often tragic, but bounded event.  They are contained both in a relatively small time and space. A home, business or empty lot will catch fire and burn. Within a day or two the fire will be put out and the painful process of recovery will begin.

Out West, or any dry region for that matter, Fires are a season. Once a fire starts, it really doesn't end until it rains...and it doesn't rain for months at a time. The goal of firefighting is to contain a fire, not to put it out, but rather to establish a barrier around the fire. Establishing the barrier, often around hundreds of thousands of acres is a huge task. Especially while also trying to protect homes and property within the fire zone and evacuate people and livestock out.

Right now, in the State of Oregon, over 900,000 acres are burning. Guess what state is just a little smaller than that? If you guessed Rhode Island, you are correct! So think about that, Rhode Island is burning, has been burning for about 3 weeks and will continue to burn for about 3 more (if we're lucky).

But wait, there's more! In California 3,577,926 acres are burning and in Washington there are  500,000 acres burning. So roughly 4 million acres or a little over the total acres in Connecticut.

Don't go yet! Idaho, Montana, and Colorado are also experiencing record fire seasons. (This is really getting depressing so I'm not going to run the numbers here). So lets just say, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island are burning, have been burning for at least two weeks and will continue to burn for the next month.

That's a lot of burning!  A lot of displaced people and animals. A lot of ruined lives. Recovery can't even start to begin until it rains, and will then continue for a long time..until next fire season.

So, not a happy post to start back up on, so I will just briefly mention one other big difference between the West and East Coasts. The roads, or rather the condition of the roads. Every time I'm driving out West and see a "Caution - Bumpy Road" sign I gotta laugh.-Driving over the very slight "bump, I imagine the distress of the road crew trying to sign a typical Massachusetts or Rhode Island road.  They wouldn't know where to start - let alone where to place the signs amidst all the hub caps.