The Idaho panhandle always has a rough fire season...dry summers, millions of acres of conifers, extremely inhospitable terrain. We've not had big blow-ups yet this year, but plenty of small fires, including one hillside going up right across the lake from us. We had a front-row seat for that one. But it's been another smokey year, due to big fires in Canada, Washington, and Oregon. Depending on the winds that day, we might be getting smoke from any one of them. The lake we're on is big enough that the smaller firebombers on floats, and the helicopters, tank up with water out in front of us, and the airport is just in sight, so we see the bigger firebombers flying in and out of there towards all points of the compass, all day, every day.
Things took a more serious turn yesterday, 30 miles to our west, in Spokane. A number of big fires erupted around the city, high winds drove them into the suburbs. Thousands were evacuated, and as of this morning over 600 houses had been destroyed. Miraculously, no deaths reported yet, and they're gaining ground on the fire, but still evacuating more residents from some areas around the city.
