Uneasy Sunrise

Although I reference local events, celebrations and disasters, I tend to focus on what is happening right on the farm. This morning, the sunrise brought the other parts of the State into the glaring spotlight.

Where the sun should have peeked up from the east horizon in a cloudless sky, a thick haze hung. The relentless East Wind had stirred a small fire in the Columbia Gorge into an explosive and uncontrolled wildfire. Even though the wind was blowing here on the farm, the thick haze clung around the treetops and rained ash onto every surface.

The fire that started on Saturday had grown to 5000 acres on Monday, to 10,000 on Tuesday while also sending hot embers across the Columbia River to start a small wildfire across the Gorge and into Washington State, to 20,000 acres on Wednesday while being 0% contained.

Even at this size, this is still not as big as the Chetco Bar Fire that is burning in the southwest part of the State and the smoke we had in this area 2 weeks ago. Many fires are burning throughout this State and many other States.