Fire in the forest

[VF21]

When you live in the middle of a forest, you always live with the fear of fire. You worry about careless campers, you worry about idiots, you worry about power tools striking metal and creating sparks...

The worst fear, however, is when you're sitting at home on a beautiful summer night and, all of a sudden, you catch a whiff of drift smoke on the evening breeze.

That happened to me a few minutes ago...and I suddenly remembered the helicopters I had heard overhead earlier but paid no attention to.

It's a fire. Here's what the Plumas Forest has to say about it:

Howland Fire Update

The 100+ acre Howland Fire is burning in a remote area approximately 3 miles northeast of La Porte, on the Plumas National Forest in northeastern California. The fire is burning in heavy timber and rugged terrain around the Slate Creek area.

[FONT=&quot]Firefighters, backed up with helicopters, dozers and air-tankers are [/FONT]hitting the fire hard this afternoon and evening. Additional fire fighting resources have been requested for tomorrow to assist local firefighters.

Due to the current southwest winds, residents and visitors should expect to see smoke from communities within Plumas County (Cromberg and Sloat).

There are no homes or communities within the boundaries of the Plumas National Forest threatened at this time. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Updated information can be found at the website, [FONT=&quot]www.inciweb.org[/FONT].

The winds are currently coming from the northeast, meaning I'll probably have to try and sleep with the smell of the smoke all night.

So, with this post, I'm going to ask everyone to remember to be fire safe. If you're going camping this weekend, keep in mind the woods are tinder-dry. The recent heat has dried grasses out even more than they were already and something as innocent as parking your hot car on the side of the road can start a fire. Please, be careful. The home you save just might be mine.

 

[Widowmaker2k]

I don't live so far out in the forest, but I certainly understand the feeling. Just last year there was a small fire about a mile (downslope) from my house, and I could watch quite clearly as the tankers made their attack runs. It was very spooky. Just today, I walked out my front door and saw a large plume of smoke on the horizon, and immediately went to the CHP website to check out where it was. Thankfully, it was 20 miles away near Auburn, and not threating any homes, but it makes me nervous none the less. That fire is actually still burning, and the reflections of the sunset in the plume of smoke was quite eerie in this evening's twilight.

Basically, if you're doing anything that could potentially cause a fire, stick around long enough after you've finished to make sure that that is not the case. If you see somebody flick a cigarette out the window whilst driving, call the police and report their license plate number.

 

[kennadog]

While I was driving hom last night, I could see the smoke over the Sierra Nevada mountains. When I see that, it always gives me a feeling of dread. Animals and people threatened and firefighters risking their lives. I hope all of you living up there and the firefighters stay safe this fire season.

 

[VF21]

The Howland fire is 100% contained. It may well burn for a while yet, as some of the terrain is impossible to get into and they may not want to use up resources to fight something that will burn itself out anyway.

 

[6th]

The Howland fire is 100% contained. It may well burn for a while yet, as some of the terrain is impossible to get into and they may not want to use up resources to fight something that will burn itself out anyway.

Good news! Hopefully, you will have good clean air again soon.