The Fire Yo-Yo

George Lake Fire at Sunset, Monday Aug 13, 2006

















Thursday Aug 17th 2006 The Column is Back!

So this morning, (10am) I am driving into town and the sky is bright blue and there is only a hint of smoke in the air.
Breathe deep.
Out, nestled among the Mt. Washington foothills is a low lying trail of smoke.
This looks good.
It looks like "our boys" are getting the upper hand on this recent fire.

Two hours later, I drive up the hill and look in my rear view mirror.
The column is back.
The winds must have picked up or shifted.

A fire fighter friend of ours says that the greater the column rising up into the atmosphere, then the hotter the fire burning at the base. (Bliss Girl or her dad can probably elaborate.) With the previous fire (Black Crater, a HUGE column arose one morning and the bull dozers 1/4 mile away had to back up even further because the paint on the bull dozers whas beginning to melt and peel, and even the garb of the firefighters was not going to hold up long in that kind of heat.

Well, so the column was back by midday.