Most of the intermountain west has seen no rain for more than 45 days. It has been clear and sunny, with a scorching wind. There is no place from Kansas to California that is not experiencing critical fire weather. At Rural Ways we don't watch TV, but those that do may have noticed that Colorado Springs burned down in a wildfire. Last night we went to bed with the smoke from the 100,000 acre Clay Springs Fire hanging over town. Today the Seeley Fire jumped to 33,000 acres. The New Harmony Fire (near Cedar City) has been controlled, but it destroyed 30 structures and closed I-15. Yesterday, somebody started a fire on the Markagunt Plateau—today it is called the Shingle Fire. It has jumped to 1500 acres with 0% containment and 1500 evacuations.
And here comes the 4th of July. Oh, holy heck (as they say in southern Utah). I-15 is packed with all of southern California and Nevada headed for the mountains. And every camper, truck, and trailer from all of southern California and Nevada is packed with cheap fireworks. At Rural Ways we like to take care of ourselves and do not generally look to the government for intervention. But, if the Parowan mayor wants to post a 7pm curfew and patrol the streets with the National Guard for the next two days, I'm all for it. Any soldier who notices some idiot with a package of bottle rockets should be authorized to shoot on sight. People, please, save the fireworks for New Year's Eve.
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