Sunday, August 30, 2009

Wildfires in the West

Almost every time that I have driven through Utah, it has been on fire.


We were a few miles away. It was startling to see a mountain on fire!

This was taken on the last trip a couple of weeks ago. It was taken from the gas station where we got fuel. We had seen the smoke from many miles back, but it was coming from behind the ridge. When we pulled of at the station, we saw several people taking photos, so we looked back and this is what we saw!

The difference in the Utah fires that I have seen and the California fires that I see on the news, is that Utah doesn't seem to need to fight all their fires. The first time we drove through Utah, the fire was burning right up next to the Interstate! We saw a helicopter a few miles away dropping water, so we assumed there was a farmhouse that they were trying to save. Otherwise, it seems that they just let nature take care of things, as long as there are no people in danger.

Not dramatic enough to make the news perhaps, but pretty impressive in person!

4 comments:

Allie said...

Wow - yes, a huge difference from the CA fires. Not as many people, probably. I don't think I'd like seeing that in person - fire makes me nervous!

Gaynell said...

Reminds me of Western Kansas when they would burn the fields on purpose. (I never knew why.)

Iron Needles said...

I remember the first time I saw evidence of wildfires here. Then the afternoon, driving home from work, and seeing actual flames in the mountains. That got my attention.

Lynne said...

Nice capture! I don't like wild fires. We had quite a few when we lived in CO, but I think where we live now (at least now) we are in no danger of lighting anything on fire. The ground is soggy and squishy. My potted plants that I just tossed yesterday were saturated with water. No wonder the poor things had a poor blooming season.

Are you loving your new camera??