Fire

Fire is scary. When the wildfire was burning in the county park across the hills from us, we came home one night to see flames on the ridge shooting up into the dark sky. Even though those hills are miles away from us, across the valley, Ziad and Maya were upset. Even apart from our sorrow at the destruction the fire was causing, we were just freaked out. I was hiking with Maya one time in a park where the rangers were conducting a controlled burn. Even though we never got anywhere near the blaze, little bits of ash were carried by the wind, landing on the ground in front of us. The sky was darkened by the smoke, and the sun turned orange in the haze. It was incredibly spooky, and my reaction was just to get the hell out of those woods as fast as we could.

This video about wildfires and wildlife management, sent out by a friend on an e-mail list, seems timely.



There's more information on the show's web page.