Australia’s “black summer” of 2020 – the most devastating wildfire season in the modern recorded history of that continent – was not only responsible for a level of devastation that stunned all who either witnessed it in person or saw the heart-breaking photos of it, it is also thought by many involved in studying global climate change to be a precursor of wildland fire seasons to come.
If you’ve been enjoying the many volumes of Stephen J. Pyne’s “To The Last Smoke” series and ever found yourself thinking, “Gee, I’d really like to recommend this entire collection to some friends but I don’t know if they’d be willing to read so many books” then your friends are now in luck.
Given the amount of rain I’ve been seeing while here attending Ohio’s The Biggest Week in American Birding, there’s not much chance of any significant wildland fires breaking out; however if one did, thanks to the recent publication of Stephen J. Pyne’s “The Northeast; A Fire Survey” I take comfort in knowing that I could quickly acquire an understanding of the reasons why it may have done so, the history of past fires in the region, and gain a bit of insight into how it might behave as well.
As I began my early morning walk down the hill into town, just as I was putting on my sunglasses to face the rising sun that always greets me this time of year, I realized that they weren’t needed – the smoke from the many forest and rangeland fires burning across the Pacific Northwest had reached our little corner of Oregon, turning the Sun’s disk from its usual blazing yellow into a muted dark red.