Fire Season

I suppose nearly every place on earth has a drawback of some sort when it comes to weather. Ours is the ever present threat of wild fire and it is a serious threat every single year. Living in the Sierra Nevada mountains, where we rarely get any rain in the summer months and temperatures easily top 90 degrees most of the summer, it is only a matter of time before we hear the fire news rolling in. We take precautions on our property such as clearing brush and limbs that have gotten too close to structures but that provides little comfort when surrounded by a forest that could fuel a raging fire for days.
We recently had our closest call to date since moving here when a fire was started (still haven’t heard the official cause) about 8 miles down our winding road on the other side of the ravine. Once the screaming sirens flew down our road and air tankers flew overhead we knew it was close. The locals did a great job sharing information as they always do and updates were given frequently. This particular fire had local, state, and federal fire fighters on scene. They are all truly amazing at what they do and were able to get the fire contained that day. By the time it was extinguished, 11 acres were burned. Getting word that the fire was so close set us into prepare to flee mode. We started running through the list of essentials that absolutely need to go with us in the event of evacuation and unfortunately the only things we’d really have the space to leave with are our important documents and a few other small items. With a family of 3 and 2 full sized dogs, there isn’t much free space in our vehicle.
As much as we enjoy the beautiful summer weather, we always breathe a little easier when the rain comes.