2026-08-02
Containment Estimates Continue to Fluctuate
In the wilderness, a thousand lightning strikes ignited the dry pines. Fire tagged the wind and together they raced in an orange heat planting their flags in the forests of Thumb, the Gunflint, Little Knife, Bear Trap, Dark Lake, the Echo Trail and more. Ducks lifted off from the darkened lakes and fish swam to the depths. Wolves abandoned their dens followed by foxes and bears and deer leapt through the furnace of the trees. The small mammals, squirrels, and weasels sprinted and hid as the fire crossed chains of lakes. The gray cloud erected its tower. Updrafts lifted moths into the roar of combustion and burning feathers of flames fell like seeds that grew in the glades slid down the granite outcrops into mosses and windfalls as the firemen's planes dropped water that exploded into steam in the inferno and the brigades went into formations working on perimeters and breaks while smoke floats across the country.
The county sheriff detailed the plan for evacuations: Ready / Set / Go. Rangers formed search parties as people collected valuables from their homes, loaded their cars and fled. If you can't control it, you can try to contain it. If that doesn't fix it, nothing is left but to let the force do what it does. Then it rained. "Rain has moderated surface fire activity but heat still remains in the duff below the surface," said the Forest Service. Flight restrictions were placed over the Boundary Waters. The sheriff said Go was reversed to Set, Set went back to Ready. It's climate change. We watch what this earth will do. Revive itself? Keep us alive? There are fires here and floods in other parts. Heat domes and atmospheric rivers. Maybe we need to change what we do. Stop burning fossil fuels. Take care of the earth. Pressure representatives to enact legislation that supports renewable energy and protects our climate. Give birth to another beginning.