Where there's smoke . . . .

I saw a lot of smoke while flying over Idaho this past weekend. Seems like the whole state is burning up if you're up there in the air. Some firefighters from Wyoming rode with me in the shuttle to the Boise airport Sunday morning. They were headed back to their home base after working on the Rattlesnake fire near Grangeville.

One said it would be a while before that fire was contained and that it was at least 50,000 acres. His buddy corrected him and said, "I'd guess more like 30,000." Well, last night I heard on the news that both were wrong; it's 70,000 acres. And, that's a sizable amount of Idaho beauty going to ashes.

We had a sizable amount burn up around here 40 years ago this month, and it was just one of the many fires in the area that summer. The Sundance burn started as a smolder up behind Schweitzer Mountain. It continued to smolder for quite some time, as its original firefighters thought it had been squelched.

Then, one night when the winds really took off, so did the fire----almost to Bonners Ferry, which is 30 miles to the north. It was recorded as a 55,000-acre blaze. Two men and several animals died. Another worker, Randy Langston, who was a lookout at Roman Nose peak, almost died, but he managed to escape. Fire fighters were here for weeks putting that one out, and for years, folks have talked about the legendary Sundance burn. These days, it's hard to tell anything happened up there because the trees planted the following year (I even stuck 125 in the ground) have grown so tall.

I bring up fires cuz Bill got called up to Bonners Ferry today to work as a logistics coordinator. Seems there's a 20-acre fire up in Smith Creek near the Canadian border. Apparently, it's slightly over-manned with 80 fire fighters, and the folks in charge need some logistics help to get things better organized. Bill said the firefighters could almost hold hands and stand around the blaze. Apparently, they got so many because of dispatching from other fires and the workers had to have some place to go before heading off to another.

Bill has worked on four fires so far this year, and if we don't get some rain, I have a feeling there may be more. I read in the Idaho Statesman the other day that the fires this year in Idaho are off the charts. And, news accounts suggest it isn't any better across the state line in Montana where towns in scenic areas have had to be evacuated.

It's looking like time for a good ol' fashioned rain dance and a generous soaking throughout the West. I'm sure the wild and domestic animals, humans and trees will be glad to see a little rain instead of all that smoke. And, around here, we all would rather just keep talking about Sundance for another ten years than to witness anything coming close to its path of devastation.

Come on rain!