Lightening, Comets and Forest Fires

Sheets of lightening blanketing the sky above Bastion Mountain in the evening before dark had come. Glen and Rebecca watched it flash. Later that evening, Marcia and Wyona noticed a fire half way up the mountain, just above Cedae Brae Point. They called 811 to report the fire. “Yes, we have been notified and thank you.” We walked down to their porch, for ours porch is nestled in trees and although we are closer to the fire, we could not see it. Both the small binoculars and the large ones were passed among the eight adults who sat on the porch in the evening, watching the fire flare and creep up the mountainside.

Underneath the porch was the annual sleep out – driven by the scientific fact that on August 11th the earth passes through an old comet tail. Shooting stars light the sky all night. By tipping ones head slighty backward on the upper porch it was possible for the adults to see the shooting stars and the flames from the fire at the same time.

By morning helicopters were dropping water on the fire. “They look like mosquitoes but you can see the stream of water when it is dropped and work your way upwards to see the machine,” Wyona described. When that didn’t control the fire planes came in, dropping a pink liquid to help control the fire’s spread.

We have been talking about the wealth in the B.C. forest this year – a good reason for not privitizing the land, the environmentalists among us say. “Yes,” said Glen, “and the reason that the government so aggressively fights forest fires.

An amazing night – 3 forms of brightness: lightening, fire and comets streaming through the atmosphere.

Arta