According to environmental experts, every August for a long time to come will be a season of smoke in the western states. We're getting a taste of it in the Clark Fork River Valley.
Last Thursday when we arrived at Shorthorse, we were greeted not by a spectacular view, but by an eery haze that all but obscured the mountains around us. It was like wearing a pair of dusty glasses, only you couldn't wipe the haze away. The air smelled like a campfire. When the smoke smell first hit us up around Sandpoint, it was almost pleasant...pungent and fresh, and reminiscent of many good times around fire rings with friends. But as we drove east into a thickening air, that nice smell began to slightly sting nostrils and eyes.
The majority of smoke was rolling west from the "Chippy Creek Fire." This wilderness fire has consumed about 90,000+ acres of timber, brush and clearcut in remote mountain areas about 40 miles from us. Meanwhile, about 28 other fires were burning around the state, including a scary blow-up in Frenchtown, on the north side of the freeway at Missoula. Highway 93, our common route to Missoula, was closed because of that fire, called the "Black Cat." A bunch of really fancy horse farms had to be evacuated.
The ground at Shorthorse was tinder-dry. Everything crackled underfoot. The temperature's been in the high 80s and 90s for many weeks, with virtually no rain. The smoke-laden air was perfectly still. There was silence around us...no tractors, no chain saws, no recreational shooting. Even if there weren't Stage II fire restrictions on such activities, people around here wouldn't take chances like that anyway. Not now.
Last Thursday when we arrived at Shorthorse, we were greeted not by a spectacular view, but by an eery haze that all but obscured the mountains around us. It was like wearing a pair of dusty glasses, only you couldn't wipe the haze away. The air smelled like a campfire. When the smoke smell first hit us up around Sandpoint, it was almost pleasant...pungent and fresh, and reminiscent of many good times around fire rings with friends. But as we drove east into a thickening air, that nice smell began to slightly sting nostrils and eyes.
The majority of smoke was rolling west from the "Chippy Creek Fire." This wilderness fire has consumed about 90,000+ acres of timber, brush and clearcut in remote mountain areas about 40 miles from us. Meanwhile, about 28 other fires were burning around the state, including a scary blow-up in Frenchtown, on the north side of the freeway at Missoula. Highway 93, our common route to Missoula, was closed because of that fire, called the "Black Cat." A bunch of really fancy horse farms had to be evacuated.
The ground at Shorthorse was tinder-dry. Everything crackled underfoot. The temperature's been in the high 80s and 90s for many weeks, with virtually no rain. The smoke-laden air was perfectly still. There was silence around us...no tractors, no chain saws, no recreational shooting. Even if there weren't Stage II fire restrictions on such activities, people around here wouldn't take chances like that anyway. Not now.
We live with the threat, and yet we fortress ourselves as best we can against a fire. We're clearing, thinning, pruning and mowing when we can, to establish a defensible area within 200 feet of the structures. It will take a while, but we're working on it. The fire departments actually maintain a list of people who have "done the work," and in a triage situation they will respond to the properties on the list FIRST.
We also have separate circuit breakers at the house, the barn, and the pumphouse...so that, in the event of a structure fire, we can still power the pump and garden hoses from a remote location.
Our SIPS construction is much more fire resistant than most building materials. That should help minimize damage.
Don is considering getting some of that flexible "K-Line" irrigation hose...something that can be towed around by the tractor to where it's needed.
And we also feel that being down on the river at the bottom of the hill probably offers more protection against wildfire than being up on top in the wide, flat valley floor.
Fire is a risk we live with. Don used to be a wildlands firefighter in his "younger" days, so he knows its power and has good knowledge of how to deal with it. Me...I just get hysterical. Good thing he's around!
And then there are the yellowjackets......
