June 24, 2007
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Wildfires in Alaska Today
Personally, right here, I’d barely know there were any fires nearby except for a slight brown tinge to the cloud cover. It rained almost all night and has been sprinkling a little bit today. Air near the ground looks clear, feels cool, and breathes okay. There’s no sunshine, just overcast as far as I can see.
I checked the BLM’s daily wildfire report. It says that statewide there are 45 active fires now. Eleven of them are in our area, where almost 10,000 acres have burned this year. Of the 45 active fires in Alaska, 30 are “uncontained and unstaffed” meaning they are just being allowed to burn themselves out, I guess. They concentrate the firefighting resources around populated areas. Burning is healthy for the forests, but not so for people.
There was one fire report that triggered some laughter from Doug and me:
The fire was started by a fisherman who shot a flare in the general direction of a bear. The fire is out.All fires currently burning in our area were caused by dry lightning. We are really glad to see the rain.
Comments (6)
I do hope things are better outside now. It must be hard to breathe after such a bad fire. We have been having some specials via television advertised for this week. I am going to DVR them. I am fascinated by your state, tho I don’t think I could live your lifestyle. Having you on Xanga is such a delight for I can vicariously live the brave life with you!
The rains are welcome around here, even though this is the “rainy northwest,” it has been so dry since March/April. Now, at last, we are seeing the typical gray skies… the tourists whine, but I rejoice in the life rain brings.
I hope the rain does clean the air — Mother Nature can give us life or death
When I used to live in Arizona, we would get wildfires in the mountains. They’d look beautiful at night, as I’d sit on my bed and stare at them from my window.
I’m not sure if there was an effect on the air we breathed, being so far away from them, but I am betting there was. I was just too little to notice (consciously) or care. I was 5 or so.
Glad to hear your breathing is (at least a little) easier.
Hope the rain helps with the fires. The fires burning there made the National news in the wee hours of the morning. They didn’t say much about them, just that there were some.
I must say that I’d have shot a flare at a bear, too! (Well… assuming I was silly enough to fish in the bear’s yard, which we know ain’t happening!)
I’m glad that you aren’t in danger.