Smoke gets in your eyes.....

There is the acrid smell of smoke in the air this evening, and the whole area has that familiar haze caused by distant blazes. It is past the deadline for burning off and I fear it may be the first bush fire of the season, early and somewhere to the West of here. Perhaps it is only the DSE doing a controlled (??) burn about 20 kms away, but I don't know. This will be my second full summer in residence in an area surrounded by forest that has not burned for many years. The timber industry once was active here, and the old loggers claim their regular clearing made it safer to live in this beautiful place - they may be right, the bush is dense and the understory overgrown and full of fallen trees as the result of storms and the drought. I have fire hoses, a full water tank with petrol driven pump, my property is as prepared as possible in that it is clear of any potential fuel, the grass is kept short and I have a fire plan - to stay and fight. I hope it never happens.