Wild Fires in the West
It has been a rather intense fire season in the west this year. Colorado was on fire earlier this summer and lots of friends were affected by those. Now, the northwest is on fire and I am experiencing the smokey air even though most of the fires in the state are quite far away. Today, all over town it smelled like a campfire and there was a haze of smoke blocking the sun. Friends of mine with lung issues are sure to pack their inhalers with them as they are often in coughing fits when the air gets bad. Others I know are fighting the fires. One tragedy nearby in Orofino, ID involved a young firefighter who lost her life while working. I am forever grateful for those who are willing to do such a dangerous job. I have only ever worked prescribed fires and while I really enjoyed it, I also saw a little of the power of fire up close. It is exciting and scary at the same time.
In the process of learning about these fires, I have found a great website for tracking them. Inciweb.org provides detailed information about wildfires and it is updated regularly (like every hour or less for big, uncontained, or new fires). Here's a picture of what the map looks like when you choose an incident.
You can click on the little fireballs to get more details about a specific fire. There are links to closures, news, other maps, etc. If you go to www.inciweb.org, use the drop down menus in the upper right corner to select a state - click GO. Then you can choose a specific Incident to get the snazzy map you see above. From there you can zoom in or out and drag the map around to see other states too.
I found this website partly because there is tons of smoke and my friends had a fire near their farm recently. But also because I am traveling through the west and needed to confirm my route. Turns out that the route I had planned is not doable at all. Initially, it looked like it would just be smokey and have delays. Now, the Mustang Complex fire (the giant red blob in the picture above) is requiring the evacuation of towns along the highway I was going to travel. So, now I will spend tomorrow driving along bigger highways (also with small fires nearby), through smokey air until I reach Idaho Falls for a conference. Then, it is off to Tetons and Yellowstone for a quick one-day visit of the parks. A friend who is joining me has never seen the parks so I hope for his sake it is clear enough to enjoy.
In the process of learning about these fires, I have found a great website for tracking them. Inciweb.org provides detailed information about wildfires and it is updated regularly (like every hour or less for big, uncontained, or new fires). Here's a picture of what the map looks like when you choose an incident.
I found this website partly because there is tons of smoke and my friends had a fire near their farm recently. But also because I am traveling through the west and needed to confirm my route. Turns out that the route I had planned is not doable at all. Initially, it looked like it would just be smokey and have delays. Now, the Mustang Complex fire (the giant red blob in the picture above) is requiring the evacuation of towns along the highway I was going to travel. So, now I will spend tomorrow driving along bigger highways (also with small fires nearby), through smokey air until I reach Idaho Falls for a conference. Then, it is off to Tetons and Yellowstone for a quick one-day visit of the parks. A friend who is joining me has never seen the parks so I hope for his sake it is clear enough to enjoy.
Remember to thank a firefighter. They do dangerous hard work to keep us all safe and protect our natural resources!
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