pine creek fire.

last wednesday, the 29th, a wildfire started a few miles from our home. after dinner we looked out the window & noticed that smoke was coming over the livingston peak from paradise valley. we hopped in the car to investigate...& then my heart broke. all of pine creek was on fire.

view from livingston. we were in the car. 

driving into paradise valley.

first sight of flames. to the left you can see that the sky was red from the sun & smoke.

we parked our car & just watched for a while. i cried.

we were home an hour later. by then we could clearly see the flames from our front door.

from what i've heard, this summer has been hotter & drier than normal (we've been blamed for bringing the awful utah weather with us). it's also always windy so the fire spread quickly. as of this morning, the fire has destroyed 5 homes & several outbuildings, burned over 8,000 acres, & is about 45% contained. i think pine creek residents are being allowed back in their homes, but the access road to pine creek & the forest is being blocked by a military hummer.

on friday the kiddos & i took a drive to paradise valley. we stopped along the yellowstone river. this is presley looking at all of the smoke. 

smoke-filled sky. the mountains are hidden behind the smoke. 

this was taken in paradise valley on tuesday evening. you can still see a little smoke & we can still see smoke from our living room window.