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Thought I would give you an inside look at the fire situation in my area.

Fortunately the 179 current fires in my county alone here in No. California are in relatively remote areas, and structural damage has been very minimal. There have been some local immediate evacuations and some precautionary evacuations just outside of town. My son's family has been staying with me for a few days, but are returning to their home tomorrow. They live in one of the precautionary evacuation areas.

The smoke is very thick and is causing some breathing problems; even for those of us not sensitive or asthmatic. Visibility is maybe 1/4 mile or less. It is quite eerie. The setting sun is a beautiful reddish orange, but sets high above the horizon amidst the heavy smoke. Ash is everywhere. We are surrounded by several active fires, but neither of my towns is threatened. We are all very fortunate.

They are forecasting a chance of more thunderstorms Friday through Monday. Hopefully they will come with lots of rain, if it happens at all.

This has been a very strange year for natural disasters everywhere.

good luck with everything Burney. I'll be thinking of you.

Those storms are predicted to hit us here in southern Oregon too Burney. If you were to have a fire near your town are you in danger? Good luck.

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Bob Allen
The Old Showman

Two of the threatening fires around my town have been extinguished, the other is moving away from us. One of our creekside parks burned and the campground I just camped at a couple weeks ago burned in separate, additional fires. I am not even sure if the fire that swept through the campground is out yet, but it is pretty far away. We are no longer threatened.

We had one lightning strike today in an area that was already burning about 25 miles outside of town. That fire is not controlled. The only containment is on the north side where it burned all the way down to a very large, recreational lake. I saw about 20 fire trucks, apparatus, and accompanying personnel saving an auto dismantler shop and residence in a remote town (population 36) on my way home from Redding the other day. The old, abandoned, dilapidated house about 200 yards away was burned to the ground with only a pile of ash left to see.

The fires on the other side of Redding are huge and much more destructive, but they are over 60 miles away.

More thunderstorms are predicted through Thursday. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

Nearly forgot to say, we are getting used to the smoke in the air and can't smell it anymore, yet visibility is extremely poor still.

[This message has been edited by BurneyFalls (edited June 29, 2008).]

Hi Burney:

We're getting the smoke up here in Medford now and can smell the fires. It's supposed to clear out by Wednesday.

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Bob Allen
The Old Showman

Hi Bob,
Sorry our smoke is moving up your way. According to the news our air quality is still hazardous, but I can only see it now--I no longer smell it. Ash is no longer free falling. There are still some very big fires west of I-5 (55 miles from here), but the ones around here are pretty much out.

When the smoke clears, as they say, how about coming down and checking out my theatres, Bob? It's not that long of a drive. I'd like to meet you.

I've often thought of that Burney. I'll see what I can do. Thanks.

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Bob Allen
The Old Showman