Mount Sentinel is burning!

It's not unheard of for my family to take a leisurely stroll over to Dairy Queen after dinner in the summertime. It seems like half of Missoula is there on any given summer night. Last night was different, however. Normally when we go for ice cream, we don't end up walking toward a massive pillar of grey smoke boiling up from the side of the mountain. Nor do we often get a chance to see a firefighting helicopter drop its load. Needless to say, I ran back for my camera. Here are some of the pictures I took:

After the 10:00 news, I stepped out to check on the fire's progress and was treated to the sight of a line of fire crawling down the mountainside like a stream of angry lava. Unfortunately, my camera is not set up to take pictures after dark, but I assure you that it is a sight I will remember for many years to come. Luckily, the library is well out of harm's way, so none of our materials are in any danger from the blaze, but Mount Sentinel will bear the scars for quite some time.

Choking On Smoke

This is the scene here in Missoula this morning. Over the weekend there was a brief reprieve in smoke, while I was out of town of course. I came back to a smoky, low-visibility Missoula. I think the smoke is almost the only topic of conversation here at the library. When checking out to patrons our conversations rarely stray from small talk, and the weather is always an easy subject, so we focus on the heat and smoke.

Why is the smoke back? The Jocko lake fire exploded over the weekend and was declared the top-priority wildfire in the country. Yesterday crews estimated the fire had burned close to 18,000 acres, but called it a rough estimate since they couldn't see well enough through the intense amount of smoke. Read about it here.

So maybe it would be a good day to come grab a movie or book and stay inside, instead of choking on the smoke outside.