Fire on the Mountain
witnessing a conflagration from the very start
Yesterday I was driving back from a job site with Ed, and as we were coming down the hill from the Sunset Mesa, he pointed down the valley to the south and said, “Look at all that dust being kicked up. There’s quite a wind out there.”
Indeed there was a line of light-brownish white that crossed the valley, heading north toward us. “This might be the third huge windstorm in less than a month!” I said. I’ve seen more snapped and uprooted trees and fallen limbs and branches this summer than I ever have before.
Looking out at the dust storm, Ed said, “Yeah that’s kicking up quite a lot of stuff.”
D- What gives with the weather this summer, Ed? Is it chemtrails, global warming, an act of God, or HAARP?
E- It’s weather manipulation. They’ve been at it for years and it’s hitting us hard now.
Ed’s looked into this plenty. He’ll head for the hills after a snowfall and take samples of the snow on the ground, and they test positive for all kinds of toxic chemicals that shouldn’t be there. Kla.tv has done plenty of reports on this. Here are two that come to mind:
My partner Bernd did a quick interview with Air Force veteran Kristen Meghan. In less than five minutes, she makes the case that the chemtrail conspiracy is real. The interview got over 4 million views. It was a very timely get, as she announced she was going to go off the radar for a while immediately after: https://www.kla.tv/29651
Ivo Sasek, the founder of kla.tv, talks about the so-called Sahara Sand, falling from the sky, laden with hazardous chemicals: www.kla.tv/30216
This summer has had an unusual amount of strong winds in the valley. Everyone is talking about it.
I dropped off Ed, and made my way down to the shop. As I turned west toward the Bitterroots, that line of wind had reached our area. Sand, dirt, leaves and other debris began filling the air. Fred VanCamp passed me heading to his home in the other direction and waved. Seconds later Fred called and said, “You’d better postpone whatever you are doing. It’s crazy out here!”
I drove on thinking it might only last a few minutes, but soon more debris filled the air, large limbs had fallen across the highway, and a giant piece of corrugated metal off the roof of a shed went flying by, just in front of the truck. I took Fred’s advice and drove back home. Lightning bolts were zapping the forest on the Sapphire Range side of the valley. It was raining hard just before I arrived but soon stopped. I looked back toward the Bitterroots and a fire had just started high up the hill. In no time the winds whipped it up and sent flames high into the sky. Fred said, “With this wind there’s no way they’ll get planes up there to fight it.”
It took no time for this fire to start looking like a volcano.
It’s still burning this morning. Luckily it’s cool now and the wind has stopped, but I have no idea when they’ll be able to put it out.
I am still steaming about Lahaina, and how easily some dismissed it as typical arson. 3 summers working for the Forest Service as a firefighter here, and though still JMHO, the probability of so many improbable unnatural anomalies does not logically lead to a typical arson or natural probability. The 15 minute city is proceeding as planned. Michigan 'burn barrel' my ass. At best, it appears that bayesian logic and other modes of pattern recognition appear to be only a post-hoc, pre-selective part of the tool kit for those absorbed in self promotion or self interest. But what do I know? I am just another conspiracy theorist.
At night, when it's dark, I can see the flames from my residence. As the crow flies, I live about 7 or 8 miles away and in an open area, so I am in no danger from this. Unless the wind shifts direction and blows the smoke my way, I am not impacted personally at all. I do know people who live near the fire, friends who are probably a mile or two away. They have every reason to be concerned, especially if the wind changes and drives the flames down the slope, putting them and their homes in jeopardy.
If this fire had started a month or six weeks ago, it would have exploded violently out of control due to an extended period of very hot (100+ degrees) and dry weather. At that time, the forests in this area were tinder dry and. if ignited, could have easily created a monster which might have dwarfed the Lolo Peak fire from 2017. However, it's late August, the weather has cooled down considerably, and we've had some rain, intermittent at times, but also drenching downpours. The conditions for a massive wildfire have changed dramatically over the last few weeks which is good for those who live in the area.
That being said, the question arises as to how this fire should be handled. In an intense debate with some friends on a local group thread, I stated that it should be allowed to burn out and only monitored until it seemed like it might threaten homes and buildings of property owners, at which point protective measures should be implemented. There was some strong opposition to this, with one view being expressed that every effort should be taken to stamp it out as it could, if allowed to burn, create a hazard and risk for homeowners.
Well, it might, but there are is no certainty that it will. Considering everything, odds are that it won't, even if it burned unimpeded. At least, that is my opinion, for what it's worth.
As a society, we have to come to grips with the reality within our national forests. Due to restrictions and prohibitions on logging, clear-cutting, and thinning, plus the Smokey Bear mentality that every fire MUST be extinguished immediately, the forests are now clogged with undergrowth and litter which guarantees that, once a fire starts, it will burn hotter and more destructively than it would have if proper management had been implemented. Clear thinking and logical reasoning should be the drivers of forest policy rather than emotional ignorance and refusal to make the hard choices which are necessary to ensure the long-term health and well-being of these treasures, the national forests which we call "ours".