Fire in the west is a persistent danger due to drought and low humidity which dries out the grass and brush. We have incredible firefighters and law enforcement officers and they did a wonderful job keeping us all safe. Thankfully, there was no injuries or damage to any structures. Hundreds of homes in the Deer Creek Canyon area were evacuated for safety precautions. It took over 100 firefighters, 36 apparatuses and a helicopter to drop water to put out the fire. I knew it could be disastrous! The other photos were on social media sites for our fire department and sheriff. My heart fell when I saw the smoke and heard the fire engine sirens. I finally got back around to finishing my posts on my Dredge and Highbanker Plans.

I was picking up my granddaughter from school when I took the photo in the upper left of the collage. It has been hot in the 90s for a while and very dry and windy-all creating high fire danger. The suspicion is that teenagers exploding fireworks caused the fire. This is not the lodge fire we experienced in Alaska-see this postto read about that-this was a fire about four to five miles away from where I live! It occurred in Deer Creek Canyon Park. I had to begin this post with scary fire photos. These include the use of homemade retorts to recover Hg, removing women and children.

Homemade gold dredge