Casper on Flaming!
For some reason when I originally saw it, I didn’t think anything of the enormous plumes of thick smoke rising from the mountain bordering the south side of my town. I guess when a fire is that far away you don’t realize how big the flames have to be to create that much smoke. Well, it has since managed to escalate to a federal emergency, having consumed over 12 miles of forest and exhausting our town’s fire-fighting resources.
Before federal aid, they were having a LOT of trouble containing the fire, since the AWESOME wind in my state was helping the fire jump any breaks they had made in the trees to try and stop its progress. It even managed to jump a highway and briefly threatened some residential areas close to the base of the mountain. All homes on the mountain were evacuated days ago, but the fire has only claimed four of them, which isn’t bad, considering the acreage the fire has destroyed, and how many homes are in the area.
For the first several days, the entire city was covered in thick smoke, and the entire town smelled like a campfire. It was also raining ash miles away (like, at my house), turning my town into a mini-Silent Hill. It was pretty surreal. Occasionally the wind still shifts and blankets the town in ash and smoke, but it’s becoming less frequent.
Probably the most interesting thing about the fire is that all the animals it has displaced came flooding into town like a giant beast tidal wave and are preying on the disoriented sick, elderly, and youngest citizens. Well, I actually made that part up, but that would be pretty exciting.
Now, it’s a full-on aerial assault on the fire, and I would LOVE to get some pictures, but it’s very difficult to get close, as any roads that head toward the mountain are closed. I didn’t want to blog about the fire til I HAD some pictures to post, but I don’t think I’m going to get any. I might try for some panoramas today, but I can’t promise much, since the best views of the mountain are either next to it (where the cops are busting photographers’ skulls) or across town (too far away to look good).
Anyway, I did snap ONE quick photo as I was leaving Tim’s yesterday evening (yeah, clear across town). This is actually very unimpressive because the smoke wasn’t very thick, and at this distance, the haze is too much for a clear shot, but you kinda get the idea of the scale of the fire.
