yesterday's lightning strikes

It has been HOT here for some days.  Late yesterday, the air was still and heavy.  I guess Chris was off for a bit, and Chewy arrived down from Chris's tent.  When thunder is coming - heard by her before us - she comes to us for protection(?).  Sure enough, five minutes later we heard it too.  Big clouds around.  Some thunder and a bit of rain, a breeze, and cooler air.  Phew.  I could breathe again.  Not a big storm, but this morning there are two new fires that we can see from our grass and one more in a saddle behind Silverton.   One is across the Lake, this side of Nemo creek, about halfway up the mountain.

see smoke in left centre

The other, worse, is just this side of Enterprise Creek - north side of the ridge, not far from Paul and Koko's home and the south end of Red Mountain Road.  I think it's within the forest burnt by the scary Springer Creek fire of 2007.  [Oh, correction - Cole says it's one ridge closer than the 2007 fire.] 

smoke rising from below the ridge

The air has been alive all morning with aircraft fighting both fires.  Helicopters scooping up lake water to dump on the across-the-lake fire.  Both 'copters with water and bombers with red fire-retardant for the down-the-lake fire.  Neither fire is out, but I guess they have gone to other battles. 

Now (late afternoon) there's a black-cloud storm coming across the lake.  Hopefully with buckets of rain.  The wind is whipping the trees into a before-the-storm dance.  I'm going for a swim in Loch Colin with Mary Barnett.

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July 12.  View from Paul and Koko's porch.  A helicopter dropping supplies to the ground crew (I think).  No longer a raging fire, but a furious wind has stirred it up this afternoon.  Paul and Koko are on evacuation alert and have moved all of Koko's paintings and costumes for her big Kaslo show, opening July 24th, to their not-quite-finished little house in Silverton for safe-keeping.  There's rain around today, so here's hoping. 

helicopter in top left; more fire on the other side of the ridge