Tuesday’s Tidbits, With Coffee! #24

Good morning to all of you on this fine Tuesday! The sun is shining, somewhat, though the smoke from forest fires is quite thick today which is blocking the sun quite a bit. That keeps things a bit cooler as well. The smell of the smoke is quite noticeable today too.

We have 45 forest fires burning in our area of Northwestern Ontario right now. The largest is about 12700 hectares, or about 31,500 acres, with the next largest at 7400 hectares, or about 18,300 acres. So we do not have any fires that are overly large at the moment, and most are much further north that we are here.

A spot along the river, quite a bit further downriver from where I usually sit.

There are a few smaller fires burning closer to us though, and forest fires can grow in size very fast. All it takes is for a careless person to toss a match, or a still burning cigarette, onto a patch of dry ground and there we have the perfect chance for a fire to start.

Another spot along the river.

It happens just like that. Way too often as well. People just do not think that it will cause a problem. Well, too many people just do not think. And then our forests burn. It is not easy to put out a fire once it has grown to a larger size. Please be careful whenever in a forested area. We lose such a large portion of our forests each year due to carelessness.

This is now a restricted fire zone. That means no open fires are allowed. Yet people will still insist on having a bonfire. A simple bonfire one year ended up burning an area of more than 200,000 acres of beautiful forest. That area was so beautiful before the fire, but afterward it was nothing but a blackened landscape.

Another view of the river, the water is very low here.

It happens naturally too from lightning strikes, but that makes it even more important for people to be careful. Sorry for the rant, happens sometimes, just cannot help it. But it is a beautiful day to enjoy. I hope you are able to get out and enjoy today, even if it is just for a little while. Have a great day everyone and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2023 Steve McLeod.