And the fire still burns …
The fire near my house is still burning and expanding. My house is in a place where the winds are not driving the smoke near us, so nights have been cool and clear for us. Coming to work is a major experience though.

Last night while coming home, I noticed that the fire is now high on the mountain … far above the lake and cities. According to the UtahFireInfo.gov web site, it is only 16% contained, and has burned 4,400 acres. Last night my wife and I were able to watch an entire ridge near the lake go up as a gaint bonfire. It was the one large area nearest to our house that had not burned yet. I drove down to the lake to watch, and there were lots of people with video cameras recording the entire event.

Fire … it still draws humans near, yet still causes fear. It is amazing to get to see something like this so close.

Wild Fire!
The last couple of nights have been pretty cool. There was a “Prescribed Fire” scheduled by the US Forest Service for the 22nd of September. The first stage was supposed to be 600 acres. Uh … it got a little out of control.

Tuesday night when I got home late, I was able to sit on my couch with my wife and watch the fire ~1.5 miles away on the mountain side across the lake. It was really impressive … and out of control. The news indicated that over 3000 acres had burned, and it was slightly out of control.

Then yesterday morning, working at SCO sucked due to the extreme amount of smoke – even inside the building – that was coming down Provo Canyon. This is actually good in a way since the smoke flowing down Provo Canyon is going away from my house!

Last night was another night of great views of the fire from my couch. And this morning, it seems to still be going strong. When I woke, I could see bursts of flames through the smoke. On the way to work, I could see that a lot of the fire had finished burning … at least low on the mountain. But when I got to Deer Creek Dam at the top of Provo Canyon, it became evident that the fire was still burning quite well up high on the mountain near Cascade Springs.

Now, being at work, I am again sitting in a smoke filled office. Even my truck smelled like smoke when I got in this morning. Watching from the couch with my wife was fun though. Even better than seeing a fire on CNN! 😉