Saskatchewan Crossing Wildfire

I've posted this and the last photo as reminder of what we are going through here in Washington and as a tribute to those who are busy fighting the fires, some of them from as far away as Australia and New Zealand, and three of them (National Forest Service firefighters) who died in these efforts. It has been the worst season ever for fires not only in Washington but across the Pacific Northwest.

As I noted with the previous photo, this fire was not in Washington but near Saskatchewan Crossing in Alberta in 2014. We had stopped to photograph the helicopters involved in fighting the fire which was not even visible away from the road when two motorcyclists roared by us. As they disappeared into the distance the wind kicked up the fire and suddenly it was near enough the road that we could feel its heat.

With the fire so close and firefighters suddenly rushing around we knew our curiosity had no place there and prepared to drive away. As we did the motorcyclists came tearing back out of the smoke and this one stopped and looked back as if to say "that was a very close call." My wife snapped this photo just before they and we left the fire behind us the firefighters barricaded and closed the road.