As we approached the last days of summer, it got drier and drier...like it typically does. However, over the past few years it's been pretty bad. The last bad year we had was 2018 and it was in August while my family was going through terrible news about my grandmother and her passing away. I honestly don't know what all actually happened that week but I do remember the smoke in the air and that you couldn't be out in it for very long.
This time was interesting. This year it started in early September. We have also dealing with Covid and since it started something else was also paired along with it, whether it be "murder hornets" or unnecessary protesting or the death of my cat or just everything Covid has taken away from us this year. We wondered what would happen in September and on the 8th day of September we soon found out.
The whole west coast was on fire.
The cause of this fire was because of a rare storm with wind, lightening strikes and stupid people playing with fire. One of the fires that was started in California was because of a mishap with a gender reveal party. I am sure thankful I am not one of those people. I am not sure how much damage they did but it was pretty bad.
The closest fire to us happened over by Littlerock and it burned a bunch of farm acreage. It left a lot of horses and cows homeless for a while. They put the fire out within a few days. There was one over in eastern Washington just north of Pullman and the entire town burned to the ground. Same with a couple of small towns south of Medford, Oregon they no longer exist either. A community near Detroit Lake, which is east of Salem, burned pretty bad this year as well. I know some people who owned some property near there and they took before and after pictures.
A wind storm started a fire between Sumner and Bonney Lake off of Hwy 410 and it moved up the hill. They closed Hwy 410 and redirected everyone through Auburn or the back way through South Prairie. Well, the wind changed and they had to evacuate some of the people. We called Trish and let her know what we were finding out through social media and the fire departments. We told her that she probably needed to get stuff ready just in case they have to evacuate. The possibility was there and I think we freaked her out. But she really did need to be prepared just in case. Fire is so unpredictable. She was stressed out the entire week however, she was glad she made the extra effort to get everything together. The fires were put out and nothing was destroyed except for a bunch of trees on the hillside.
There were several fires burning in California, Oregon and Washington all at the same time and the smoke just lingered in the atmosphere and it stuck around for about 14 days. We thought 2018 was bad but 2020 was an absolute disaster. It was gross and couldn't go outside to enjoy the last few days of nice weather.
I can't wait for this year to go away. We need better leadership, we need a Covid vaccine, we need to get back to our normal lives. We really do.
Next Adventure: My Five Year "Workiversary" at the State
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