How Can They Not Know?


 

I watch no other news but the fire brief twice a day. And the fire weather brief between those. I cannot walk outside without scanning the horizon for smoke. Question every cloud that it might be lying to me. I have traveled no further than Eagle Nest, and can feel the anxiety build as I near Angel Fire. Some part of me knows the Calf Canyon and Hermit's Peak fire will make it to West Angel Fire or Taos Canyon or both. Because I know how very hard 3000 fire fighters have fought for that not to happen.

Today in an Eagle Nest store the new owner asked me where I was from and I said Black Lake. And she said, "I bet you are happy that fire is over."

"It is not I said. Won't be over till after the monsoons."

Another friend thinks it is under control. Fifty percent contained is not under control. 

I now know more about wildfires than I ever wanted to know. I know you can burn a pile of downed logs, put the fire out. Let mother nature bury it in three subsequent snow storms. And have it emerge as a forest fire and join with another they thought was out and grow to 315,627 acres. That is worse than the clown in the sewer in Stephen King's novel IT.

I know you can go to a log lying on a mountain 10,000 feet up and cut it with a chainsaw and expose the fire within in it. When friends ask why haven't they just put it out? I do not know how to answer them. It is now burning on the scars of two other wildfires. I thought once wind backed it up on a burn scar it would starve to death but the old scar feeds it. And if it is not extinguished in the right way it will feed the next spark.

How can anyone not know it isn't out. I see the haze and smell the smoke. Every night they fly over with a special plane with infrared sensors that can spot the hot spots behind the containment line, inside the logs, or blown off from behind the containment line. They think they are just milking the government. They should go home. All the heavy equipment is in the way of the tourists. The lights of the fire camps kills our dark skies.

How can anyone not know this fire is not out. It is not under control even. Just takes an a spark and it will make another run.

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 31, 2022 at 4:56 PM

    Having heard how this fire started. I fully agree with your sentiments. I hope this is taught all the firefighters and prescribed burners the lesson. I hope they will always fly over with an infrared plane at least two or three nights after any fire to make sure it is 100% out. :( I cannot express how sorry I am that you're going through this. I hope that they can get it out or even more contained long before the monsoon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JBinford-BellMay 31, 2022 at 5:00 PM

      I hope they do too but I think it might be irrational to believe it can. We are in the worst drought in 1200 years. You can almost believe the dirt could catch fire.

      Delete
    2. The Blog of BeeJune 1, 2022 at 9:33 AM

      I am so worried for you. It's very worrying and I don't recall it as ever being as bad as this. It's the same here in the dry season but not on the same scale by any means.

      Delete
    3. JBinford-BellJune 1, 2022 at 12:34 PM

      This is very historic. The largest wildfire ever in New Mexico. The mistakes made by the Santa Fe National Forest on two prescribed burns and the freakish fire burn roll over which allowed both to join forces at the time of extreme drought and unstable air definitely did not help. It seemed at times the dirt was going to catch fire. I have been scared. And being evacuated is scary in and of itself.

      Delete

Post a Comment

I write for me but I care what my readers think. Please be polite and no scamming.

Popular posts from this blog

Polyethylene Packaging - a Dark Times Journal entry

Image
I was in the fourth grade when our family moved from El Paso, Texas to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We moved because I could not breathe the air there. I want to say they cracked petroleum there. But what did I know beyond the sky was sometimes yellow and I could not breathe. Mom was pregnant with Debbie, and Gary and I rode in the backseat separated by a round tank full of Dad's tropical fish. Dad had a job with Sealright, Inc which made paper milk cartons. Sealright was a polyethylene packing subsidiary of Phillips 66. The petroleum company. I was rather proud of myself for learning to say that, and to not laugh when adults would stare at me not knowing what to ask about that. Albuquerque smelled better. Then. Before all the freeways were built and the shape of the valley trapped the exhaust down near the ground in the winter months. We lived in the foothills. I could breathe. I learned that if I could see the air I could not. Still it was better than El Paso though I missed our trip...
Read more

Swimming

Image
For much of my college career my fitness workout was swimming on the B squad of the swim team. I remember it as the days before heated pools and women coaches. I also remember being so exhausted and cold I could only lean against the shower wall and throw up. Not exactly warm fuzzy images but I was in awesome shape. Needless to say it did not leave me with a overpowering desire to swim laps. Point of fact for years my swimming became really informal: Swimming to shore after the canoe tipped over, challenging my sister once a summer to across the lake and back, seeing how long I could back float without moving a muscle, and a scuba course. I also played around with other ways of staying fit: aerobics, bicycling, jogging, skiing and dance classes. All of which seem to be bad for the knees, back or feet. After my ski accident my physical therapist steered me back to the pool. Damn if I was going to swim laps! However, aqua fit was just getting rather seriously taken so I took it. It r...
Read more

The Pruning the Crown of Thorns

Image
Crown of Thorns Before I am a lover of Euphorbias . They are from the deserts of Southern Africa and Madagascar. They have evolved physical characteristics and forms similar to cacti of North and South America and are often incorrectly referred to as cacti. My big Crown of Thorns was one of my first of a growing collection of these succulents from the spurge family of Euphorbiaceae. I picked it up as a 6 inch plant in a New Iberia nursery when my sister and I were touring the northern gulf coast. I believe that was 15 years ago. I made an attempt at limiting its height a few years back to allow it to devote more energy to the new branches and make it a denser plant. That failed. And the height of the plant continued to challenge the window space and soon the long branches were leaning over and leaning against the window. I googled and found the proper way to prune this treasured plant. Still it was very difficult to cut off the four longer branches. Even with a plan. The f...
Read more