Editor's note: Humboldt Sun reader Nadine Paine submitted the following editorial on Sunday following last weekend's fires.
By Nadine Paine
The evening of Sept. 30 started out soft and windless in Paradise Valley (the valley, not the town), as a storm came slinking in from the west. Pretty soon we thought we heard thunder and the sky was somewhat darker to the south over Winnemucca and to the east, than it was to the north and west. Around 5:30 p.m. the sky lit up with lightning flashes, then about 5:50 p.m. we spotted smoke rising above the Hot Springs Range from the Eden Valley area. We called it in to BLM dispatch, knowing someone else must have already done so, but not wanting to chance it. (The fire had been reported and proved to be in the Osgood Mountains.)
Things appeared to be calming down, so we went in the house - silly us. We heard thunder getting louder and closer, so returned to the front yard (facing due east). Looking east we saw two fires on the flats at the base and a little to the west of the Hot Springs Range; it was beautiful and horrifying as we watched those two fires merge right in front of us. Our whole world exploded into flares of light - and so quickly. The orange glow from the fires lit up the night and reflected off our windows. It had been less than an hour since we'd seen smoke from the Osgood fires. There was a third fire smoldering farther south. We were afraid it would kick up and join the others. Fortunately, the wind wasn't strong enough to accomplish that feat.
Worried about some of our friends on the ranches east of us, we called around to see if anyone needed help. No one did. It was obvious the adrenaline was flowing in the veins of all the ranchers, but they sounded as if they had everything under control, and they did - except the fire itself, which they were going out to tackle. They'd obviously planned ahead for such explosive events. They knew exactly what needed to be done and who was to do it. All they had to do was follow through.
We checked outside around 10:15 p.m. The sky had a rosy hue the fire was reflecting off the smoke and clouds. The blaze had climbed up the Hot Springs Range at an alarming rate and created so much dense smoke we couldn't see the flames any more, only the lovely reflection they made. The last time we looked out the door it was less smoky and the hue had faded to a faint pinkish tint. It was obvious the fire was less intense, but we found the next morning it was still with us, just farther away to the east of us and much closer to the southwest; the China Garden Fire north of Sand Pass Road had ballooned way up past its 2,000+ acres.
In fact it exploded to the point where many of the residents of the Paradise Hills subdivision, including hay farmers, turned on their sprinklers. Because of the high wind everyone expected the fire to jump highway 95. It didn't.
Air tankers came in to subdue the China Garden Fire by dumping fire retardant on the spreading flames. There were at least three of them. They finally brought our lives back to normal and out of the panic zone by nightfall, working steadily until that time. Life is pretty much back to peaceful for the valley residents, and that's the way we like it.
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