jaguartx;
Good evening to you sir, thanks for the reply and query - and I hope all is well with you.
We're the northern tip of the Sonora desert here - Ponderosa Pine, Sage Brush, Antelope Brush, Rabbit Brush, prickly pear cactus and rattlesnakes - anyway all that to say sir that summers are typically hot, dry and fires aren't uncommon. It's been reasonably hot up here too, not Texas hot, but it was 100° F a couple days last week.
The pickle has been that we've suppressed forest fires for the last 100 odd years so the fuel load is way, way higher than is usually would be if the burn cycles had come through as often as they did in the past.
The fire started about 3 kilometers south of us, but the winds were from the north most of the week so it blew south and away from us. It's 2600 hectares as of the last report.
https://www.castanet.net/news/Penticton/263261/Cooler-temps-help-fire-crewsWe live in the sticks and have taken all the steps we can to limit our buildings from catching if a fire comes through, but that said, we've left a lot of the trees - though they're limbed up to 15' to keep a ground fire there on the ground and not in the Ponderosas.
Anyway fire season is always a bit of a mixed blessing for us and you'd think after living here for 26 odd years we'd be used to it but somehow local fires always make me just a wee bit more on edge.
Thanks again and all the best to you as we head into cooler weather.
Dwayne
