![]() ![]() While wildfires are a constant of the forests’ ecology, the once-exceptional burns have now become routine. But the scale of these huge wildfires-“megafires,” they are called-have grown, due to a complex interplay of increased human habitation in and near the forests, the multifaceted effects of climate change, and the long practice of fire suppression rather than fire management by the U.S. Smoke season is not exactly new, for the forests of the West have always burned. Not being able to see the mountains hurt your heart. On particularly bad days, the sun shone red and the air smelled like campfires and hurt your lungs. My parents were evacuated for several days in 2015, and this summer, I helped them dust ashes from the vegetables in the garden. Forest Service firefighters, and forced the evacuation of several towns. In August of 2015, the Okanogan Complex fires burned over 300,000 acres, killed three U.S. But in August of 2014, during the massive Carlton Complex wildfire, nearly 260,000 acres of Okanogan County burned and destroyed 363 homes, the largest single fire in state history. The irony is that, when I was growing up there, August was the month that could be most relied upon for sunny weather. And at dinner, everyone’s cell phone rang at once with fire updates from the county. Helicopters with drop buckets of water and red fire retardant were constantly overhead. Local businesses offered 10 percent off to all firefighting personnel, who were camped in tents on the sprawling rodeo grounds outside of town. The Okanogan County post offices and community centers were offering free particulate respirator masks, and fire progression maps were updated daily and posted outside the town halls. ![]() In the Pacific Northwest, people are beginning to refer to the month of August as “smoke season.” For most of this past August, for example, the Methow Valley in Washington State was choked with smoke from the Crescent Mountain fire to the southwest and from the McLeod Fire to the north. This article was originally published in Boston Review. ![]()
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