(Photo from Bayview Idaho Historical Society www.bayviewhs.com)
The lands have been hot and dry. The weekend before the Fourth of July, our area had
temperatures of 105 degrees which broke the record high from when temperatures
first began being recorded. The week continued in the upper 90’s. Along came the holiday of fireworks and camping. I chose to
not buy any fireworks for personal entertainment. I just didn’t think it would
be wise or responsible to participate in lighting things on fire during this
terribly dry time. I watched the news but local government did not declare
fireworks off limits. Firework stands were forward and center with numerous customers.
I did think, “People won’t restrain themselves.” However, the night of the Fourth,
I did enjoy the several shows of clearly illegal shoot-up-into-the-sky
explosions coming from a few locations around my home. It truly was a thrill to
see and made me grin with joy and say, “Ooh!” and “Wow!” It was a satisfying
Fourth of July experience. As I returned inside, I hoped a fire had not been
sparked in any fields or on the roofs of any homes.
In the morning, I noticed a strong wind blowing and thought,
“That could flame a fire if there were one.” It took me awhile to realize the
sky was muted and dusty. I dismissed it as early morning. It impressed upon me
only after it didn’t clear by later in the morning. Then came a post on Facebook
from someone I knew who mentioned ‘evacuating’. Next, came a post from the local
news saying they were headed out to see what was happening. Then came the
posted photo of a small town facing a huge dark smoke cloud seeming to come
forward onto a neighborhood street.
(Photo from KXLY4, published July 6, 2015, www.kxly.com)
A fire did start and those continuing winds were fanning it.
I felt sorry for the firefighters and for the people having their homes and
town threatened. Then I had my cynical assessment of human nature, “Of course
we can’t delay personal gratification during a clearly high risk time. We want
our fun and our traditions.”
The fire burned on through the night spreading up over the
hill and down the other side. Before I went to bed, it was said to be over 600
acres burning. It was 2000 acres in the morning. One news report suggested the
fire had started from a waterside campfire getting loose and quickly spreading
up the hill. Another report said the fire had two separate starting points. Several
homes already were lost. Vivid photos from the night showed the huge glowing
fire with the photographer describing the difficulty of capturing the photos in
the wind gusts which pushed him and his tripod. The sky outside my window is
still filled with a tan blanket of smoke-clouds. I had envisioned a morning at
the lake on my paddleboard with beautiful scenery and clear blue sky. I took
some days off of work this week specifically for that on-the-lake experience of
beauty. Not so pretty now on my precious days off.
(Photo by Ted Curphey, July 5, 2015, published by KHQ6. www.khq.com)
I wondered why the local governments hadn’t officially
banned campfires and fireworks. Certainly, people would have been outraged and
some would have gone ahead with their fiery traditions. But maybe it would have
lessened the risk. Did the officials not want to have to manage the peoples’
outrage? Or in America, is it too much of an overreach to tell people to not do
something for general protection during a high risk time? Maybe it is a sign of
our trends of permissiveness and reluctance to disappoint. In any case, nature
set up the perfect scene of hot, dry lands and forceful, persistent winds for
us to demonstrate human nature in a dramatic show. As a result, people, land,
sky, anything living within this broad area, all must suffer while firefighters
work to bring down the show.
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