Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Smoke gets in your eyes

And your lungs and everything smells of wood burning. Today, it was a control burn in the forest, south of Prescott. The wind decided to switch directions and head into town; it was a fine day for the photographer to deal in classic Chinese-style perspective, with the smoke separating layer after layer of distance. Picture number one was taken about 10:30 this morning. Shortly after 11 a.m., we saw this pillar of smoke emerging from the burn.

With the Prescott basin filled with smoke, Thumb Butte was a ghost at the horizon. Even the Pioneer Home, only two blocks away (below), seemed to be lost in a Pacific Coast fog. When I tried to locate Granite Mountain, it had disappeared behind a curtain of smoke.

The final three pictures were taken about 2 p.m. from the north side of town. Already the smoke was beginning to clear away in the city and by the time I got home, the wind had shifted again, clearing the air somewhat.

No surprise: the grumbles are being posted at the Courier web site. I can sympathize with those who worried, citing the control burn that got out of hand when the winds shifted up near Williams last week. I think most of the others are convinced that if the PNF fire managers only put out milk at night, the brownies would take care of matters and we'd never have such awful smoke again (and any wildfires would magically disappear). Just incidentally, the Twin Fire on Bill Williams Mountain was 60% contained as of about 7:30 p.m.; I found this out via a Twitter site set up for the fire news by Kaibab National Forest. Great use of this Internet resource!

8 comments:

Kathleen said...

ewie and yuck!

Antipodean Curmudgeon said...

It's 'controlled' burn time here, also. Our people stuff it up on occasions, too, however, the burns are needed.

Hermano

Granny J said...

frame -- I was going to remark that it's part of the price for living in the forest, but then, you are out on the prairie...

bro -- see comment above.

Granite Street Garage said...

Someone burnt the beans! Peaks that is.

Judy said...

Who could resist taking pictures of that giant plume of smoke!
It made for a bit of a "bad air day" but it is one of those "procedures" that must be done to keep the forest healthy.

Anonymous said...

At least the winds in the area clear the smoke out.

And, I hear locals complain about how windy it can get.

LOL

We're all a bunch of whiners!

~Anon in AV.

Granny J said...

style -- I thought that was the previous burn...

jarart -- my sentiments exactly. Better the smoke from comparatively small controlled burns, compared to the smoke and danger from a real wildfire.

anon av -- the forest service tries real hard to work on favorable forecast days -- to keep the whining to a minimum.

Granite Street Garage said...

Granny, That was Beans again.

 
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