When Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

When Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, the classic beautiful ballad by the Platters comes to mind every time we step out our cabin door lately.  The forest fire that started a month ago in the Chattahoochee National Forest with a single bolt of lightening has now burned over 21,000 acres of land and is only 20% contained. They don't expect to have them totally controlled for at least 2 to 4 weeks yet if we don't get any considerable amounts of rain.  Since that first fire started, there have been many other fires that have also taken off.  Unfortunately,  they are finding that some of the more recent fires that have started have been set by obviously deranged people.  Thank goodness, they have already found a few of these criminals.  I know that forest fires can be a cleansing thing to happen to forest land- burning up old dead wood and allowing new growth to come up from the forest floor fresh and new.  I understand that,  and I don't have a problem with it as long as the fires are able to be contained inside the boundaries of the forest and not have any ill effects on any homes in the area.  My only problem at this point is breathing the sooty and smelly air that is constantly surrounding us and our entire town.  Since we don't have a garage at our cabin, my car and Mountain Man's truck are constantly covered in a layer of gray powdery soot.  Not good for the lungs!  Since the smoke is getting heavier and more consistantly in our area, Mountain Man went to the local big box store and got us some masks to wear.  I must admit, it's not  a very becoming style, but it does make breathing a bit easier!

As with most tragedies and catastrophies, there is always a bright side.  The bright side in this story is the outpouring of love and generosity that is coming from ours and all of the other surrounding communities.  We have firefighting teams from all around the country and Puerto Rico,  Sky Crane Helicopters with their flight and mechanic teams, and tanker airplanes with their crews that have all come here to help us control and extinguish the fires.  Even though most of these heros are being compensated for their time spent here working on these fires, there are also countless numbers of volunteer firefighters that are actually taking time away from their full time jobs so they can be here to help.  All of the communities that are being affected by the fires are so grateful to all of these people that the local restaurants are providing free meals, people have been preparing food and bringing it to the fire departments, collecting water, toiletries and other necessary items to keep these firefighters as healthy and comfortable as possible while working on these wild fires.  To be a part of and a witness to this southern hospitality makes me proud of my community and happy to be a resident of Georgia.

As I mentioned in the last paragraph, there has been a Sky Crane Helicopter, which is equipped with a snorkle to suck up 3,000 gallons of water in 45 seconds that can then be dumped on the fires, stationed at our local airport.  This past Sunday, Mountain Man and I were making a trip the Walmart to pick up a few things.  The road that leads to the Walmart passes by the end of the runway.  We could see that the helicopter was there as we drove by so on our way home we decided to stop in at the airport and see if we could meet crew and thank them for risking their lives to save our forest.  We pulled up to the operations center at the airport and Mountain Man went in to ask if we could meet the crew.  I am still not totally used to small town living, the operations manager at the airport told us to go ahead and drive across the runway to see the copter and the crew!  Yes, you read right, drive across the runway.  Well, he did tell us to be sure to look both ways for landing planes!  Good enough for us, off we drove across the runway.  When we got to the other side,  the copter and crew were all just hanging out waiting for their next call.  We were able to have a nice visit with the whole crew and much to Mountain Man's delight, he was able to cross another thing off of his bucket list. He not only got to get his picture taken in front of the giant flying machine, but he also was able to get up inside of it and have the captain give him a lesson in how to start up and fly the big bird.  Needless to say, it was one of the great highlights of recent times for my Mountain Man.  To be able to watch him getting to experience something that brings him such joy and to see his childlike awe brings me such great joy, there are just no words.

So, until next week, wash your cars, clean your windows, forget your umbrellas, do a rain dance and most of all, pray for rain!