GTG
Was lost but now am found
Joined: 30 Dec 2002
Posts: 2387
Location: Peoria, Arizona, originally from Rocket City, USA
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 Posted: 6/27/2006, 9:12 am Post subject: Mother Nature's beautiful but dire set of smoke signals |
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Very interesting viewpoint from Montini about the recent spate of fires and such.
From today's Arizona Republic -
http://www.azcentral.com/news/columns/articles/0627montini0627.html
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Mother Nature's beautiful but dire set of smoke signals
Jun. 27, 2006 12:00 AM
Now that the Brins Fire is largely under control, and no lives have been lost, and no homes have been turned to dust and ash, perhaps we can admit something that, until now, would have seemed tactless and crude:
It was beautiful.
At least it was beautiful from a distance. From places where the flames could not be seen and the heat could not be felt. From places where a person didn't have to breathe in the dust and soot.
The Brins Fire was beautiful from a hundred different locations from which the red rocks and the rugged hills stood in colorful silhouette against the arching sky.
Smoke from the fire rose from the Earth like great billowing sails. It was as if clouds weren't formed in the atmosphere, but were kept in a mysterious underground vault. And someone had left open the door.
On the railings of a stairwell inside The Arizona Republic's newsroom the photography staff has taped copies of pictures taken of the fire. The images that were made from miles away are like illustrations from a children's book about a mythic land filled with knights and dragons.
The Republic's Web site features photographs that readers took of the fire as well. So, too, did the Web sites of many local media outlets.
The pictures were posted not because they are horrifying or ugly, but just the opposite.
A fire is unlike any other natural disaster. It begins small, outside of our sight. If caught early it can be defeated quickly. But if it gains strength it must be fought cautiously and with humility. It must be outwitted, outmaneuvered.
There is no way to fight a hurricane or a tornado. There is no strategy for defeating an earthquake. The only thing close to fire is a flood, which rises against us in ways that are more predictable than fire.
A fire changes direction and speed. A fire rests. It waits. It breathes. It may advance slowly or it may rush forward with frightening speed.
It toys with what sometimes appear to be our hastily prepared defenses, sending squadrons of red hot embers to drift like flaming butterflies over a barrier line that had been hacked through the forest.
In his book Young Men and Fire, about the death of 13 "smokejumpers" in a Montana fire in 1949, author Norman MacLean explained it this way: "The fire didn't have organizational problems."
It never does, while we humans almost always do. In the aftermath of something like the Brins Fire we'll argue over whether our state is properly prepared for wildfire season. We'll argue about equipment and tactics. About expense.
As we mourn the loss of scenic trails and pristine landscape, we'll argue about how many houses we should allow to be built in fire-prone country, or if we should have stopped the seemingly unchecked development years ago.
We'll argue over global warming, even as the evidence of it turns our forests to blackened ghosts.
According to news reports, wildfires in the United States have consumed millions of acres this year. In general, global warming causes mountains to lose their winter snowpacks sooner than they should, creating a longer, more dangerous fire season.
Mother Nature has been sending us a series of beautiful but dire smoke signals. And while we love the pretty pictures, we've ignored the message.
Because unlike fire, we have organizational problems.
Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com(602) 444-8978. Read his blog at montiniblog.azcentral.com.
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GTG
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