A warning for the Fourth of July

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63. THis old Rural Volunteer FireFighter thanks you.

The 3 year Drought in West/Central Arkansas is deepening,
and the outlook for any Drought Breaking weather systems is not good.
We have had a Burn Ban in effect for 2 months,
and it is worse to our west in Oklahoma.

Our district has been lucky.
We have not had to go out in this heat and fight any fires (yet),
but we are all jumpy every time the pager goes off.
There has been an increase in Heat Related First Responder calls.

The area is Tinder Dry, and (unlike last year) county and state officials are very serious about enforcing the Burn Bans, INCLUDING Fire Works. They have issued Public Notices over the TV and radio that they WILL have officers on patrol with orders to arrest violators of the Burn Ban.
Most of the public has heeded the warnings,


The grass & weeds on our little place are dead and dry.
There won't be a 2nd Hay Cutting this year,
raising the price of hay to feed cattle over the Winter.
Last year, many Cattle Farmers in this area started selling off their cattle since it cost too much to feed them.

The sparks from a small hand grinder I was using to sharpen a mower blade ignited the grass where the sparks fell last week. I was ready for it, but the ease and quickness of ignition scared me.
It popped into flame like Magician's Flash Paper.

The ground crunches and crinkles when we walk.
We are fortunate to have a spring fed well with which we irrigate our Berry and Veggie crops,
but we made a conservation decision to not try and water the fruit trees,
so no Peaches this year. There will also not be a clover crop for the Honey bees.
We will have to feed them.

Some of the Oak Trees are already shutting down (going dormant) to survive.
Many did this last year, and I don't know how many consecutive years they can do this.

My wife and I are already making changes to our planting calender and crop selections to include more early producing/ heat resistant hybrids, and planting an early crop that in past years would have been lost to Spring frost.
In past years, we planted only Heirlooms, but changed our mind since the standard heirlooms for our area are not able to cope with the current conditions.
We are planting early ripening heat tolerant hybrids this year and having better results.

This week, the HEAT is really setting in with record temps being reported.
The Old Timers here say this happens from time to time, and remissness about the drought of 54, but this provides little comfort when RECORD temperatures are being reported almost daily.

If THIS is the New Normal,
we are ALL in a lot of trouble.