Fire!

When I was 10 and we moved to Oklahoma, the one dream that I had over and over and over again was about wildfires.  Usually in my dreams they happened at night, and I would discover that what I thought was a long-lingering sunset was actually the daylight giving way to fire lighting up the sky.  I hesitate to call these dreams nightmares, because while my pulse would quicken as I went about alerting people who needed to know about what I’d seen, the fires never got close to me.  They were a glow on the horizon and nothing more.  

These days I am ultra-alert to the smell of smoke.  I waited with just a bit of anxious concern for the downtown fireworks to be over last night.  I could hear them from my living room.  After the last of the grand-finale booms died away, I was listening for sirens.  The fireworks were held in paved areas, but all it takes is the littlest spark.  Riding home yesterday from across town, I noticed just how much dry grass lines the river and the canal.  If a fire got a toe-hold, I’m sure it would be doused relatively quickly and there wouldn’t be as much to feed on as there is out in the pasture where the rogue cedars go up like flares.  But still, just a little fire can do so much damage.

My parents live among a lot of dry brush.  I half wish my brother-in-law still had his brush hog to knock things down with.  I need to call them and see if they’ve had anything pop up nearby.  I just watched a breaking news bulletin about a fire that had burned just 10 minutes up near Drumright—which isn’t all that far from them, but it’s moving in the opposite direction—and it is amazing the ground it has covered.  Of course the fact that the sustained winds are at 25, with gusts to 45, that explains a lot.  Not to mention that they just don’t have the resources to deal with it.  This is a small community with lots of rural area around it.  There is no moisture in the ground (we ended the year a foot short on rainfall), and none in the air either.  Today’s paper reported that fire departments from as far away as North Carolina were arriving to back up the departments here that are running on fumes.  Or would that be smoke?  One rural fire department had almost all their hoses destroyed, with little or no hope of being able to replace them unless there is aid of some sort made available to them.

We’re looking at no rain and above-average temperatures for the next two weeks.  If the wind would just stay down, it would be better.  If I were a betting person, I would not be betting on a smooth and trouble-free year.  My dh wants to start planning ahead for a potential flu quarantine.  Maybe that’s not such a bad idea.