This is a wonderful place to live, but it does have its risks. One of those is wildfires. Our entire county is presently on a Level One Evacuation Alert. Firefighters and equipment are spread thin, so the advice is to stay vigilant and be ready to do whatever we can to help ourselves as best we can.
This is what I'm talking about. KXLY 4 News out of Spokane released this map of all the new fire starts in Washington state since Saturday at 5 PM.
Money quote:
"If you were never concerned about the threat of fire in the PNW & our ability to protect people and property... you should probably rethink that concern. To say that this season is epic is an understatement."-- Brian Schaeffer, Spokane Fire Dept.
I live in the north central part of the state, right there where the map gets a bit crowded. We're pretty much surrounded right now, but not in imminent danger. That could change quickly, though, with more strong winds, lightning strikes, and merging firelines.
So we watch and wait, and pray for the firefighters and those who have already lost homes and livelihoods. And we give thanks for the privilege of living in this beautiful part of the world with such strong, resilient people as our friends and neighbors.
And some of us still go fishing. I'll go to Trout Lake tomorrow, if I can get there. I haven't been up there in a few days, and some of those fires are getting closer.
And we aren't the only Pacific Northwest state dealing with this:
And we aren't the only Pacific Northwest state dealing with this:
Seems like the whole West is on fire. I don't have the fire danger I used to have now that I'm citified, but I still worry about my friends. Be safe my friend.
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