24 May 2014

Orange

That was the color of the sky this morning, although it's amber now ... all that smoke in the atmosphere is interfering with the usual pale gold of sunrise.

A resident photographed this wall of flame erupting about 10:35 p.m. Friday night off Heavy Down Drive near mile 105 on the east side of the Sterling Highway before people there were evacuated. (www.adn.com)


The forecast is for southerly winds bringing lots & lots of smoke this way, and sho' nuff, that's what we're getting now.

The folks in the area where the above picture was taken were forced to evacuate last night, and then allowed back when the forecast winds didn't appear. That may be changing, now.

If you're of the praying sort (and I know that many of you are), please pray that no one else loses their home to the wildfire, which is now well over 110 square miles.

The Live Update page at www.ktuu.com includes this passage:

--According to the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center, those in charge of the fire determined that the fire died down enough to allow residents back to their homes just before 3 a.m.

Residents living between miles 103 and 105 of the Sterling Highway were ordered to evacuate on Saturday night at about 11 p.m. 

A few hours later, the evacuation was reversed, but residents in the area are still under an evacuation advisory, that means they should be ready in case fire activity picks up and they need to get out of harm's way.


* * * * *

We're going to hit the stores today, slowly and casually, and take our time. No sense being in a rush, as that leads to frustration with all the other people doing the same thing. Besides, if you get in a hurry today, it'll just lead to coughing fits from all the smoke.

Nice thing about this particular weekend: we have no agenda to speak of, and that's the best kind of holiday.

Ta!

10 comments:

Chickenmom said...

So sad, fire is the worst. Where I used to live the mountains caught on fire. So, so scary. Praying all will be well.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Wish we could send you our weather. Third day of being pounded by the Albuquerque low weather pattern.

Anonymous said...

We can smell smoke here from our fires and some from SoCal.

Stay safe!

gfa

Old NFO said...

Will do, take care up there my friend.

Rev. Paul said...

Chickenmom - thank you for your prayers.

WSF - we could sure use some rain. It's parchment-dry here.

gfa - thank you. We're in no immediate danger, except from the horrible air quality.

Old NFO - thank you.

JMD said...

Best to you folks, we finally are getting a teenie bit of rain, should help the coughing and hacking! Sending a couple drops your way.

Rev. Paul said...

JMD, we appreciate the thought, but a couple inches would be better. It hasn't rained in almost three months.

Sandy Livesay said...

Rev. Paul,

The picture is pretty with the orange accent. Now, I'm hoping you get some well deserved rain to help control this fire.

During our fires, when the smoke was bad. When we ventured out to go shopping or some where. We would take a wet wash cloth and place it over our nose and mouth while outside when going from our vehicle to the store.

Keeping Alaskan's in my prayers.

Sandy Livesay said...

Rev. Paul,

How's your mom doing? She remains in my prayers.

Rev. Paul said...

Sandy, we're supposed to get some rain on Tuesday, but it remains to be seen whether it will be enough to help.

Mom is doing fairly well, but will still have to undergo a cardiac cath & stent insertion in the near future.