September 28, 2006 by dave.

The “facts” and opinions expressed in this blog are as I see them and my responsibility alone.

It had been a fire season to remember already! (See “Big day in Oak City”) but when dry lightning (lightning without any rain) ignited a fire is Devil’s Den, it was expected to be contained shortly. However, nature had other ideas.

Winds can be very tricky in the mountains, shifting suddenly in other directions. One of the fire fighters, who came in on his day off because he loved to fight fires, decided to do “one more thing” before coming out of danger when the wind shifted, and it cost him his life.

The original fire team estimated that in 3 or so more hours they would have had the fire controlled, however, most likely because of the loss of life, a decision was made: the local fire fighters were pulled off the fire on a Friday and an “elite” team was called for. This elite team arrived Sunday afternoon to find a fire very well established.

This elite team from out of state, came with what appeared to be total lack of knowledge of or empathy for local desert conditions, and was given the mandate that they lose no lives or structures. This they did, but in the process allowed or caused some consternation within the community when they drove local volunteers, who appeared to be doing a good job of holding the fire back, off and either caused, or, at least, allowed the entire mountain(s) facing Oak City to burn.

The new fire fighters did not know that about 25 years earlier a team from Georgia had been called in by the US Forest service and allowed almost all of the cedar trees which used to cover the local landscape (except on “Bald” hill - just try to find “Bald” hill now!) to burn–saying something like “What’s the big deal? They’ll be back in a year or so”. Now, 25 years later, they are not back nor will they be even in most of our lifetimes. So, some prejudice certainly pre-existed.

The fire finally was contained many days later. The town, the camping facilities in the canyon were saved and grass seed was scattered about. The “fire danger” signs were removed and “flash flood warning” signs were put up and all returned to “normal”.

So, will the town be wiped out by floods instead of fire? (There was a damaging flood following the fire 25 years ago). Will it happen again? No one knows or will know until the next cloudburst. Only the weather and time will tell.

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July 10, 2006 by dave.

Charlotte sent me to look at the clouds over the Oak City mountains today. There were large cumulus clouds of fascinating shape! Today one could sit and watch the clouds just as one can sit on a seashore watching the waves. It is soothing but time consuming, but, like taking time to smell the flowers, it is something that should be done when appropriate.

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July 8, 2006 by dave.

Today was a “big” day in Oak City.  There have already been two, count them, two fires in town.  Both were quickly extinguished by the hardy volunteers.
Because we live almost directly across the street from the firehouse, this constituted a real exciting day in beautiful downtown Oak City, Utah.

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July 7, 2006 by dave.

Yesterday it rained in Oak City, UT.  One might even call it a cloudburst! Our new lawn, which we had been carefully cultivating for several weeks was very sparse.  This morning, following the rain, an amazing transformation had come over the “lawn”.  It was no longer all that sparse.

Rain can be wonderful!

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