FIRE AND ICE

One of the things I love about the mountains is the change of seasons! I once lived in the Virgin Islands where there was no change in temperature or length of days ... just perfect weather every day. I loved the winter in my Bryson City home although I was not able to do a lot outdoors, but being inside with a roaring fire, a good cup of coffee and a good book was a great pleasure ... for a season. I have waited in eager expectation for springtime with all the pleasant aromas and the perfect 70 degree days with a breeze or two. This spring however, has been quite dry and consequently has created a perfect condition for fire season. I had not counted on this.

I was doing the usual springtime work of clearing the remaining leaves from our road and from the ditches to insure good water flow for the hoped for April showers when all of a sudden I caught the certain odor of smoke and I wondered aloud ... "What fool is burning something on a day this dry and windy"? Two weeks prior the Swain County area had suffered the worst fire ever in the Western Carolina mountains and I was told that 9 homes and structures were lost. I could not imagine that someone would burn something in light of this recent tragic event.

I had just finished my work and went back to my house to relax with a bottle of water, when I noticed the smoke in the distance. It got worse very quickly and I was amazed how fierce this fire became. I could see flames as I looked down from my porch and I could hear its roar.

All of a sudden there were a couple of planes in the air circling to precisely locate the boundaries of the quickly enlarging fire. THANK GOD FOR THE FIREFIGHTERS! The firefighters from all areas around showed up and quickly did their work. Within 4 or 5 hours the fire was under control, but without these men, the results would have been horrible. As darkness fell and the smoke began to clear, I could see a ring of fire. It was a large oval shaped fire that lit up the night like Christmas lights. By morning it was all gone!




I reflected on the fact that just a few weeks earlier it had snowed so heavily that I could not get off the mountain and now today (March 24th, 2007) I couldn't get off the mountain because of the fire.

FIRE AND ICE! Summer! Fall! Winter! Spring!

Just another week-end in the mountains.

Maybe next week-end I'll go trout fishing!