Fire close by

About a mile as the crow flies a structure fire spread to surrounding weeds, etc., all of which around here are tinder dry.

Everything from bulldozers to helicopters were called in to help with the fight.

The helicopters seemed to use our house as a marker for a sweeping turn that had them banking down into the steep canyon that is home to the main fork of the Kaweah River.




I had a great seat to see the 'copters up close.


Helicopter after helicopter droned overhead, dipped to fill it's bucket and then flew close over the top of the fire to drop it's life-saving load.

For much of the time I could not see the activity just above the fire for the smoke roiling up.






Finally, after the fire was knocked down quite a bit the smoke had cleared enough that I could get a shot of the actual water dump.



I understand that one of the fire's up in the Park has grown to a point that evacuating Lodgepole Campground is a possibility.



This fire was close enough that I packed up critter food, a few clothes, water, and finally remembered medications just in case we needed to make a quick exit. I'm thinkin' that it would be a good idea to put together an emergency box with those items, important papers, etc., just in case. Wonder why I never thought of that before??