I'm tired of fires

Around 2:00 or 3:00 pm on Friday, Jakob got a big welcome to Oklahoma with his first experience with wildfires. I really thought we were through with fire season, but nope! And I was hoping that the Oklahoma Fire Season was an experience Jakob would miss out on while he is here. Friday's fires weren't as serious as the ones we had at the beginning of August, but were still a threat to homes and were dangerous for our firemen. A large fire started about 25 miles northwest of us, which sounds pretty far away, but in Oklahoma it's not that far. Heavy brush can make it hard to fight fires and blowing embers can spread fires rapidly, especially in high winds. Have you heard our state song? You know the line, "Where the wind comes sweeping down the plains"? Well the wind was definitely sweeping! It was out of the north at about 20 mph with gusts over 40 mph.

The smoke was already at our house and ended up blowing all the way to Oklahoma City - which is almost 90 minutes southeast of us! There were at least three more fires that started 5 or 6 miles north of our house. It's unclear whether these were started from blowing embers or an arsonist.

Jakob and I were watching the horizon and keeping track of the fires, but I wasn't too concerned about it reaching us. Of course, it's always a possibility, but I had faith that the firemen would get it extinguished before it got to us. Then a fire started less than 2 1/2 miles north of us. That increased the pucker factor a little bit. The air was thick and hazy and it stunk. We spent the next couple of hours waiting and watching and hoping they got it put out before we had to evacuate.

Finally, I heard the magic words on the radio - they were getting the fire under control and they started canceling other departments that were responding to assist. They got the fire put out and all was well with the world again. Until Saturday morning when they had to respond to someone burning trash. I'd like to take this opportunity to remind everyone in this area WE'RE UNDER A BURN BAN. Thank you :)