By BEN OLSON/for The Herald — Ah, it smells like an October day when the neighbors are burning their recently raked up leaves. But it’s a 95-degree day in July, not a crisp, cool October one. You would certainly suffer the wrath of not only your neighbors, but authorities from a number of different agencies if you burned any leaves right now.
In my previous life, in the Midwest, I took great pleasure in sitting on the veranda on a summer day, beverage in hand, watching a thunderstorm roll in from the west. I wasn’t out on the golf course or on the lake in my kayak. I was in a comfortable dry spot, with nothing to do but take in one of Mother Nature’s best shows. In addition to the flashes of lightning and the cracks of thunder, there was copious amounts of rain. I’ve learned that thunderstorms in the western Cascades are quite a different thing.
Not your typical Midwest storms
During my first summer here in Oakridge, the smoke was in the air already from distant fires. I was awakened in the middle of the night by the rumble of thunder. I had always found that to be a soothing sound when I’m in my nice warm bed. I even had a passing thought that the rain would help put out the fires. I went back to sleep. The next morning, I learned that the thunderstorm hadn’t put out any fires, but in fact had started dozens more. So it goes in a part of the world where lack of rain turns the forests tinder dry and when there is a storm, little or any of the rain reaches the earth.
I sat on my deck with beverage in hand on Tuesday afternoon and watched the weather come through, wave after wave. True to form, there was thunder and lightning and very little rain. This was going to be a problem. The next day, people with lightning strike apps on their phones informed me that lightning had ignited at least 30 separate fires within a 30-mile radius of Oakridge.
Oregon wildfires are changing our way of life
I’ve endured hurricanes, tornadoes, cold snaps, heat waves and floods. Each can cause devastating damage. They pass by and you clean up the mess. The smoke from Oregon wildfires changes the way our life will be once again until cool weather and the days of real rain return in September or October. Outdoor summer parties and music events will be canceled. Mountain bikers, sightseers and campers will find a different area to go to or they’ll stay home.
I’m not sure how to put on a good face when I live in a part of the world where this is an annual occurrence, and something that can, and does, last for months at a time. We’re all in this together. We’re all breathing the same smoky air. Please empathize with your neighbors and fellow human beings.
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