It happens more often now it seems. This morning the scene is reminiscent of many summer mornings in the past; an orange cast to the light, the smell of a campfire. How nice a campfire smells! But not day and night for days on end. Since we depend on sunlight for electricity around here, and it’s hot, and the plants require more water, and the well pump is a power hog, and the sun is obscured by smoke…It gets unpleasant sometimes.
This latest fire started as a control burn. The folks in Yosemite do more control burns than most people, and by doing so keep their forest nice and healthy. Somehow this fire in Big Meadow, which was supposed to be about 90 acres in size, got out of control. Five days later it is zipping along, and has grown to over 4,300 acres (1,740 hectares). A negative return, to be sure, compared to buying $90 worth of stock and ending up with $4,300.
Our local fires rarely get mentioned in the major news outlets, but this morning the San Francisco Chronicle gave this one a few sentences in a story about the enormous house-eating fires in the Los Angeles area. Probably because this fire is in Yosemite National Park.
1 comment:
Oh no - is it that time of the year there? It is here too - we just had a fire burning out of control on the Gold Coast, threatening to eat houses.
It's cooler and overcast today which might help a lot.
Stay safe.
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