A few weeks ago, I happened to look out my office window and saw a cop car on my driveway. That was unusual, so I went downstairs to check things out. By the time I got to the front door, the policeman had already driven back toward the road, where a fire engine suddenly flew by with a lout blat. Hmm. I stepped outside, and the air reeked of smoke. Alarming.
I went looking for my husband, and when I finally found him, I told him that I thought there was a fire nearby and that the cops were trying to figure out where it was. We walked into the kitchen together, and that’s when we noticed that the backyard and woods beyond it were hazy with smoke. There was so much smoke around that it took us a while to find where it was coming from, but we finally discerned a plume rising over the hill to the side of our house, seemingly from the area in which a few of our neighbors live. We put on some masks and walked up the hill to see if the neighbor’s house was on fire. It wasn’t. The smoke was coming from further away, thankfully.
Now knowing that the fire wasn’t right on top of us, we didn’t feel like we were in any immediate danger, but we kept tabs on it. We also kept our windows closed and our air purifiers on. Eventually the fire ended (thanks to the fireman who had been fighting it) and the smoke dissipated. All was well, and we were finally able to relax again.
But it did leave me with a thought. Obviously forest fires are a threat when you live near the woods. However, it’s now occurred to me that we’re not merely near the woods. We’re surrounded by them, and our road is also wooded on both sides. That could be, in certain circumstances, perilous. So I’m considering whether there’s anything I might do to prepare for such a risk.