Summer Record Heat & Smoke

Credit: Mike Spieth; Pacheco Fire, Day 8, flickr 

"This afternoon produced possibly the biggest plume of smoke so far."

"The firefighting crew numbers over 700 now, and the latest size given is almost 7000 acres."

 
Summer record heat is upon us, night has fallen, temperatures have dropped, so smoke from a raging fire nearby descended upon us. The Pacheco fire has grown to cover 5,800 acres and has been contained so far by June 24th only a measly 10%.

The first time in 25 years of living in this home of mine that I can not depend on natural cool and fresh air for relieve during the night from the day's heat. Cross ventilation between my downstairs sliding door entry and my upstairs window have done a perfect job of airing out my indoor living space until the present, where unusual heavy and on-going winds, common in the month of March only, have carried smoke from fires as far as 200 miles away. 

I can tell when my eyes start to sting that the outside air holds smoke so thick it be better to guard against. With the sun's rise the smoke will dissipate and I have a few hours for ventilation before the heat gets too much in the later part of the mornings.  I am not complaining, it is not as bad as some other places, not as bad by far as some 3 weeks or so ago, when the smoke lay heavy like fog across not just town, but good parts of our state (see post below.) So sad to consider all the devastation to an area favored by hikers and wildlife.

Updates can be found here.

Credit: Mike Spieth; Pacheco Fire, Day 6, flickr

Credit: Mike Spieth; Pacheco Fire, Day 2, flickr