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Fire Season
It’s early this year
When I was young, I never would have thought we’d have a fire season. I’d hoped for warmer temperatures — our winters are brutal — but never thought I’d think of summer as ‘forest fire season’.
Even more surprising is the number of grass fires in and around my city in the past few weeks. There’ve been five or six close enough to the city that some areas are under evacuation notice.
I actually can’t remember when grass fires were a problem within the city. There must have been some fires, but they weren’t severe enough to hit the news. Or, maybe, social media has helped spread the word with photos of plumes of smoke.
Usually we have rain, sleet, or even snow in April and early May. This year we’ve had one good soaking rainfall while there was still snow on the ground. Other than that, we’ve had a few sprinkles that couldn’t even muster enough water to be called rain.
The dryness has made the city a tinderbox. Without the green layer of grass, shrubs, and trees, the dead stuff from last fall has become crispy.
It’s also been windy.
Strong wind is pretty normal for spring. Listening to it roar through bare branches is a common sound while the ground thaws and the air heats up.
