The West is so dry even a rain forest is on fire

[Journeyman]

3. I helped a fire crew battle a small blaze one summer afternoon. . .

Local mountains in South California, not too tall, not too hot, and late in the day. A kid had set the grass around his parents' home ablaze. We went at it with shovels and tree branches, anything we could find, trying to put it out. When the first firefighters roared up, we stayed to help unwind hoses and do what we could to help. Once the next crews rolled in, and it was increasingly obvious we might be hindering their efforts, we pulled back and got out of the way.

We managed to keep the fire from engulfing the little fellow's home, but accomplished little else. The fire roared up a hill and over the crest before the first firefighters arrived. The crew chief thanked us for our effort, but it took them another day to put it out.

I was there for less than an hour but it was unbelievably hard work, and quite scary too, what with the threat of wind whipping the fire behind us at any moment. I'd always had respect for the crews that battled those blazes, and this only reinforced my admiration.

Miserable work but admirable effort. I'm thankful there are those who will do it.

And yeah, we entered a period of permanent drought back in the '70s: there are too many people here making demands on too little water. Let's hope this winter we gain some respite from an extended period of fire threat. Unfortunately, there are months and months to go before we have hope of getting relief.