Scary situation. We had one fire get within 10 miles of our city. When the embers started falling from the sky and the smoke made it hard to breathe...
Thankfully the wind did not force the fire into town. only 30-40 homes got burned. Strangely some properties were spared for various reasons, leaving a clean house amongst complete char. Within a year life was returning and the trees that made it will be huge some day (Although very few did). Nowadays the city has grown into and trough the burn of this fire, so if this same fire happened today much more damage would have been done. The enjoyable part of this fire, and all the others that happend every year, was going up on a hilltop and watching those monsters burn.
Sadly our forests are not managed properly. Fires that naturally occur have been suppressed, and the fuels in the forest are at an extreme level. Most people in charge with half a brain understand this, and efforts to clean and manage woodlots surrounding high value property, look pretty cool. Nice big trees, limited undergrowth (mostly natural grass and ground cover), and would probably be great habitat for large mammals we like to eat.
Be safe out there, and much respect to the guys out working in the heat, cutting down trees and removing brush to create a fire break.
