There is some good news on the wildland fire front today. Forecasters are now calling for a possible smokeless fire in western Washington. It is not likely to be any more threatening than a smoke-free fire, but the smoke will be very thick.
Wildland fires are not supposed to last longer than a couple days, but I don’t see how that’s a good thing. Smokeless fires are supposed to burn for weeks and weeks and weeks, and given that the Washington smoke may be a lot thicker than the wildfire out west, it could be a few more weeks before it gets that far.
A fire is a fire, and I think that a couple days of intense smoke in a place where it is not supposed to be a fire is going to be a bad thing. The whole thing is just too hot, and I’m sure there will be some people getting burnt in the smoke.
I’m glad someone else is glad.
As it turns out, the fire that caused a lot of death and destruction last Thursday is still burning. It started in a grassy field in northern Spokane, which is about twenty miles from the fire that is still raging in California. The fire was quickly knocked down with a lot of heavy fire department and volunteer firefighting supplies. No one was hurt.
People are still missing in the fire. A fire investigation is ongoing, and the fire has been dubbed “wildland fire.” Authorities are still trying to locate the people who may have been trapped in the inferno and are trying to find out who started the fire in the first place. The fire did create a lot of smoke. Smoke can be a hazard to people, especially if it’s coming from an open fire.
It just goes to show that there really is no such thing as a safe distance for a fire to spread. The smoke could have been coming from people who were trapped in the inferno or from a fire that started in a building or at a fire station.
Fire is a real hazard to anyone, but especially to people who live near a fire. Smoke is one of the main reasons people don’t always want to leave their home, even when they know they can do so safely. There are plenty of websites and forums that warn against smoke coming in from a fire or from a building.
The wildland fire in Washington state that started last night is thought to be the worst in the state’s history. According to the state fire department, the fire in the town of Lake Stevens was 75% contained in 45 hours. The flames were estimated at 400 acres, but with the winds blowing smoke out of the area, it was impossible to tell how big the fire actually was.
The only way to tell whether a fire is contained (which is what I think is the word most often used in this article) is to check it out from the outside. If you don’t have the time or resources to check, you can’t be sure. Smoke and flames are two of the most obvious signs that a fire is still smoldering or is just not getting any bigger.