Although the devastating Carr fire in Shasta County is receiving all the press (rightly so) there are two other wildfires effecting camping in the Klamaths, mainly the smoke.
Hand lines, dozer lines, food lines, phone lines, hose lays, burn outs, spike outs, look outs, recon, crown fires, evacuation, structure protection, resource destruction, in the black…Wildfire!
I hate wildfire! It makes me feel sad and sick to my stomach. There is so much loss; the loss of habitat, the loss of mature forests, the loss of all the resources, and of course the loss of homes and lives.
I understand that in a functioning ecosystem Fire is a very natural and necessary process on our planet. But our ecosystems are falling apart and have been for a long time. This coupled with the warming planet, as the sign says “It takes Just One Spark”. It appears the intensity is increasing. Multiple lightning strikes that were once put out as individuals are now growing in to huge “fire complexes” that burn until the fall rains.
I’ve never lost a home or wielded a shovel or sprayed a hose nozzle but I’m no stranger to wildfire. The past 30 years for me, married to a Wildland Firefighter, have been drenched with a very different kind of soot and smoke; lonely weeks, occasional late night phone calls, stories of distant obscure unknown locations, and sorrow, sorrow of yet another WILDFIRE.
Here we are another summer on fire….
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