The Burn

I thought I had my blip all ready to upload and had begun to prepare dinner when I became aware that there were many more helicopters flying in the area than usual. I'm used to hearing a few because the hospital and trauma center are not far away. Those helicopters aren't supposed to fly over the residences. Now there were many directly overhead and there were fire engine sirens in the background as well. I looked out the window and saw smoke billowing from the region of my beloved Shell Ridge Open Space.

I went outside with my camera and saw the helicopters dragging their water containers to and from the fire which was about a quarter mile from my house. The wind was blowing the other direction, so I knew my house wasn't in danger. I hurried over the hill separating my subdivision from the Open Space because I just had to know what was going on. By that time, the flames had charred the hillside and had moved on downwind out of sight. I took a couple of photos of the burn and several of the helicopters and headed back home.

When I was nearly home, I saw two fawns that had gotten separated from their mother. They had probably all panicked from the noise of the helicopters. Deer occasionally come down from the hills to nibble on the greenery in the subdivision, but I've never seen fawns without a doe close by. I hope they've been reunited since I took my photo.

It's now about five hours later. I stopped hearing helicopters about an hour ago. The wind that was carrying the smoke away has died down leaving a heavy smell of smoke and burned vegetation in the air. I'm sure the Open Space will recover, but it will leave a nasty scar all summer or perhaps longer, depending on how the trees have fared. I walk there at least once a week, so it's making me very sad at the moment.