Ham Lake Fire May 9, 2007

Whack a Mole!

This is my all time favorite carnival game.  You know the one, the mole pops his head up out of a hole and then you try to whack it with a rubber mallet? That was what today was like except it was fires popping up everywhere and planes and firefighters trying to knock them back down.

Mike and I were kept busy patrolling Sag Lake Trail.  The houses with sprinklers required very little attention, the ones without were a completely different story.  We would drive down one driveway to find fire creeping up the hill towards a cabin and then call for a fire truck to come and spray it down.  Then we would head down another road to find another cabin in danger of flames and call for more assistance.  While checking for hot spots near cabins flames were erupting all around us.

We drove up and down the roads while flames consumed the trees.  The smoke was thick, ashes were floating everywhere, and we constantly had to keep an eye out for falling trees and branches.  Fire crews on other roads at the end of the Gunflint Trail did the same thing and were constantly in harms way.

Again we were lucky.  No lives were lost.  Structures are lost and are replaceable.  Lives are not.