A wildfire broke out west of town Friday afternoon.
Last Friday I posted Storm Clouds Brewing and talked about lightning and wildfire. Then Friday afternoon an aggressive wildfire broke out west of town. However, this fire wasn’t caused by lightning, it was caused because of an illegal marijuana grow.
It formed a huge column and began building it’s own thunder cloud.
The fire crews were scrambled and the air-tankers took to the air.
The thing is, Mary and I were planning a weekend away camping in our trailer at our favorite spot. The problem was, the fire was less then five miles from our camp where we had already staged our trailer. We made the decision to retrieve our trail while the fire was relatively small, only 300 acres.
As we approached camp the sky became angrier.
After reaching camp, we packed everything, hooked up the trailer and pulled out. The smoke made it very dark.
Looking to the sky from camp.
The fire was two ridges away when we hauled out.
We got the trailer safely home and by the time we went to bed the fire had grown to 2,800 acres.
Saturday was a new day and the fire had not advance too much over night. It was reported at 2,930 acres. We decided to head back up to camp to pick the last of our equipment. Sailor and Kinta came with us this time.
Sailor and Kinta are ready for an adventure.
It was still very smoky up near camp. An inversion had settled the smoke into the canyons.
By the time we finished the truck was covered in ash. Clearly the fire was still actively burning.
Sailor and Kinta found this whole adventure thing quite exhausting.
By the time we returned home the fire was still at 2,930 acres. Unfortunately, high winds hit Saturday night/Sunday morning and by Sunday morning it was up to 3,700 acres. The terrain is very steep and it is extremely brushy. Spot fires have been tormenting the firefighters. Just when they seem to getting a handle on it, another slop over occurs. It is now Tuesday night and the fire is reported at 8,100 acres. Today was overcast and calm. Hopefully, they made good progress containing it. The fire is now 1 3/4 miles from camp. We shall see what tomorrow brings.
THE FORESTER ARTIST 
Adventure is very exhausting
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Indeed!
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🙂
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I’ve just send a few typical Dutch Jacob Isaacksz van Ruysdael’ rain clouds over to you. (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jacob_Isaacksz._van_Ruisdael_-_Le_Moulin_de_Wijk-bij-Duurstede.jpg). Hopefully they will give your area an effective shower.
I know woodland fires are natural but I so dread them, picturing all the animals in distress. What percentage of the big trees normally survive fires in your area?
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Thank you for the cool damp thoughts Paula, we sure could use them right now. A hundred years ago most of the big trees would have survived the fires, because the underbrush was so light. Today most big trees don’t survive the fires, since our forests have become so dense with brush and small trees. Ours is a fire ecology and species here are adapted to it. Nonetheless, it is still tramatic when the forest habitats burn.
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Such a big area Tim
Hope there is a respite now .
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We are too Poppy. Yesterday some thin clouds came in and our humidity went up. It seems the firefighters made progress. The humidity is still pretty high this morning so that is a good sign.
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Tim,
Your report showed me how quickly a forest fire spreads. You and Mary made a wise decision to move your trailer when you did. Did you choose a new spot to camp or postpone the outing for now? I imagine there’s too much smoke in the air to camp anywhere close by. I hope the fire doesn’t come any closer to you!
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Hi Linda. We postponed for now. We’re just hoping they can keep it from getting larger. Nothing to do but wait and see. It has burned some of our company land, so our company is providing assistance. Every little bit helps.
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Glad you got your trailer out safely. Ya never know what finicky Miss Wildfire will do or go!
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Isn’t that the truth. I’m afraid Miss Wildfire has been schooling the firefighters. We debated whether we should get it or not, but decided not to wait. Our big concern was if the fire got big, like it has, they would close the road into camp and we wouldn’t be able to get to it later.
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Glad you and your belongings are safe. May the fire be extinguished soon.
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Me too! I think they made good progress overnight. Now, if the winds stay calm today I’m hopeful that they’ll get a handle on it.
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Very scary situation, it seems that once these fires start it doesn’t take much for them to explode. Glad you guys decided to pack backup and head home.
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It’s been a tough fire for the fire crews. The terrain is very steep with poor access and heavy brush. Just when they think they have it, the winds pop up and it spots over the containment lines. I think yesterday they made good progress so we’re crossing our fingers.
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Fires are terrifying. Glad you all are well. We had to endure some in our area the last few years during the drought. Usually, we have enough rain to prevent them.
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Some rain would be good right about now. Unfortunately, we won’t see any significant rain here until September or October. I think the firefighters are going to get it done on their own this time.
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Reblogged this on Sneaking Bliss and commented:
So much damage from a lone, irresponsible person…not much bliss to sneak for the families burned out by this fire.
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We are in extremely dry conditions in the NWT. In fact we have over 135 fires burning around the territory. There is only one way out of Yellowknife which keeps being closed because of the fires. The thick smoke keeps coming and going. Sure makes the light a weird orangey colour that makes it hard to paint by. I hope the fire is contained. There is a fire near our community that started 36 hours ago…now we wait.
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We have the same “orangey” conditions here right now. It is very surreal at times. Is it common for you to have fires like that in the NWT? Unfortunately, this is very normal for us. I guess we are all waiting together. I hope they get your fires contained quickly.
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We have fires but we don’t tend to have heaps of them. We are now up to 186. It is the worst fire year since they have been recording such things. Our little government is paying more than 1 million dollars a day to just to fight at the most important areas. We are a territory of 50,000 people so that is a lot of money. The only thing that works in our favour is that our weather cools off after the August long weekend…heres hoping we will get some rain.
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Indeed, we’d send you some rain if we had any. 🙂
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So much destruction. We have a smoke filled sky here these days. Luckily nothing burning too close at that moment.
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I was looking at the Hotspot Detection map of the Western US to see how bad the fires were in general. There were a lot of fires from Northern California and Nevada extending all the way into BC. It looked like there must have been quite a bit of lightning last week. Most appeared to be settled down, but there were a few still going.
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Yes we had a bad storm awhile back. The lightening was unusual. It was colored and more like sheet lightening. We are having a heat wave so everything is tinder dry. Keeping our fingers crossed that we don’t get any more bad storms. Take care.
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I hope things settle down in your neck of the woods Susan.
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Such a dramatic situation Tim and it is a good thing Mary and you be safe. Sometimes fires spread so rapidly! You took the right decision anyway!
It’s appalling to see that so many trees burn….Firefighters are so brave.
I love Sailor and Kinta..
Hope everything is going to settle down soon.
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We hope so too. We were glad we moved the trailer, although I’m optimistic the fire won’t reach camp.
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Your pictures are so amazing!
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Thank you Chatou!
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Your dogs are too cute as they are sleeping! But that fire is really scary! Glad you guys are okay!!
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Thanks Bernice. We monitored fire conditions so as to avoid a risky situation.
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Your photos remind me of how bush fires in Australia cause their own weather. Nature reminding us to be respectful! Stay safe.
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Thanks Helen. Be respectful indeed. This fire has been punishing the firefighters.
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The pictures are unbelievable, I’m not sure I would have made the trip with the fire so close.
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Well, we made sure we knew what the fire was doing at the time. Plus, we had our escape plan worked out. We were pretty safe.
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Yep, fire all over. We are all hoping for some different weather. Lots of thanks to all those fire fighters!
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I looks like a lot of lightning activity. Eastern Oregon got hit really bad. It would be nice to get some rain with it.
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Oh dear, so very sorry to hear this. Your photography is amazing.
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Thank you Marian. It looks like the smoke is less to day and that is a good sign.
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What a shame and a scary experience. Great pictures. Thanks for sharing. We don’t get wildfires in the cornfields of Illinois.
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When people think about California they usually think about earthquakes. I believe the wildfires are a much bigger problem.
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Reblogged this on Jeanne Meeks ~ Fiction Author and commented:
The plot of my third book in the Backcountry Mystery series will include a wildfire. This one caught my eye.
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Scary camping! The trouble with trailers and all that equipment is it takes time to move. Quicker by far with just a tent and a small spirit stove, sleeping bags and a rubber mat. You can tote that lot.
Glad you’re safe and hope it burns out soon..
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We do to Ian. I think it is better today, less smokey.
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Scary!
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We were careful and stayed out of danger. 🙂
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So glad you and your family are safe and you had time to get your possessions out. I can hardly imagine what that is like. I don’t think we would ever get a fire like that here, although we have had a few very dry years lately.
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It all went well and we did retrieve what we needed to. We were back up last weekend and checked things out. The fire was stopped about a mile away. The fire fighters had a tough job. I hope you never have to deal with the kind of fires we get out here.
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Good to hear you were aware enough of these types of conditions to pull out of the site safely. Hope by this writing the fire is under control and no lives have been lost.
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The fire is now out being mopped up and is well in hand. They haven’t called it contained yet, but they’re close. Unfortunately, there was a fatality. It was a resident who was caught without an escape route. Very tragic. There were also numerous firefighter injuries due to the extremely rugged terrain. Those folks really earned their money on this one.
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OH no! Sorry to hear.
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