A Smokey Sunset

 

Jetty Lagoon, Fort Stevens State Park

When it’s finally over, fire season 2015 in the Pacific Northwest will be remembered as one of the most destructive and costly on record.  In Oregon and Washington alone, tens of thousand acres of brush, grass, and forest have been ravaged by fires this month alone.  In one fire, twenty-seven homes were reduced to ashes in less than an hours as the fire marched across the landscape.  One fire in Washington state this past week was responsible for the loss of three young firefighters who were working the fire lines trying to make a difference. 

The fires have also generated massive quantities of smoke, much of which has drifted east of the Cascade Range driven by winds predominately out of the west.  Yesterday, the winds shifted and some of the smoke was pushed west toward the Pacific Ocean.  While atmospheric smoke is never pleasant, it does create conditions for incredible sunsets.  I spent the hour before sunset last night and came home with this image.