Mount Shasta with real clouds photo by Chris Tatro www.sendoutcards.com/site
It’s very clear and still this Monday morning. Our pollution levels are almost non-existent, but lack of wind is supposed to change all that any minute now.
Sometimes we get these awful smoke burps. They blow in, smother us, shoot our particulate matter levels off the charts then dissipate. It’s weird.
Today’s WunderMap has the black smoke plume headed up and inland into Nevada, Utah, Oregon and Idaho, miraculously circumventing Mount Shasta. I don’t know why.
Stats for the fires closest to Mount Shasta are still pretty grim: As of 8/8/08, the Panther Fire (15 miles south of Happy Camp) which began July 22nd has added another 3500 acres to its tally, bringing the total to about 18,000 scorched acres. According to a U.S. Forest Service press release, the fire is 15% contained.
By the way, folks, containment does not mean a fire is out. It just means firefighters have drawn an imaginary line around all the flames and are working their asses off to make it stay in there.
Word of mouth around these parts says the Panther Fire will be burning well into October. November…who knows?
As always, there are plans to fight fire with fire. Check-out this official Overall Strategy: Direct line and indirect line with low-intensity burnouts backed with contingency lines are designed to create a defensible box around the Blue 2 and Siskiyou fires (including the two fires in one “big box” by connecting firelines). These three approaches have been used on the Ukonom fire to connect it with the Panther Fire to the north. Firefighters work closely together to coordinate the indirect fireline construction plans for both “boxes.” Fire growth within the containment line is expected to continue throughout the summer as the fires run their natural course and burn out or are extinguished by fall rains.
Hmm, fall rains—will we even get our Fall rains this year? That is the question. Back in early June, our governor declared California to be precipitation challenged.
Lack of rain isn’t the state’s only water worry, though. Pumping restrictions aimed at protecting an endangered fish affectionately known as the Delta Smelt are also making things difficult. Folks are beginning to talk about a new “conveyance facility that would divert Sierra mountain water from the Sacramento River north of the Delta and route it around the fragile Sacramento River Delta.”
But what about the here and now? So many fires are still burning in our neck of the woods—about twenty-five, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. They put the total charred acreage at 1,131,655 and counting. Check out the WunderMap to see what I mean. Fires from Northern California are polluting the afore mentioned five states, as we speak.
Speaking of pollution, lucky Beijing got some rain for its bad air; Tennis, Archery and Rowing events had to be postponed. On Monday, city levels dropped by more than half, registering a 38—by whose standards, I’m not sure. The Associted Press swears that its independent readings of Olympic air log in about three times worse than Chinese official readings. For a full pelting on the rain, athletes and pollution readings, try MSNBC. I’m getting bored with all this pollution talk.
It’s so easy to talk about and so hard to fix.
Happy Tales,
Laura signing off.
p.s. As always, SendOutCard information is just a click away. Chris has his own blog now, too. It’s not as neat as mine, but let’s give him time, folks. He knows way more about sendoutcards than I do and that counts for a lot.