Fire near Ft. Huachuca.

I've got a lot to say today so I'm participating in Seven Clown Circus's Wordful Wednesday.  If you've got a blog, participate!  Go over and read what others who just have to talk have to say today!  Dream of fire kept me tossing and turning last night.  The wildfire has me worried.

It's only about 10 miles from our house here on base and that's quite scary! 

The Monument Fire, as they call it, started on Sunday afternoon.  I noticed it when I went outside to check on the kids that were playing around the bend in the street.  So I took a few steps to make sure that they were all together and off in the distance I looked behind my neighbor's house and say a cloud of smoke. 

Uh oh.  A new fire. I thought.  We already have one off in the distance which has been burning for about a month and a half.  The Horseshoe 2 first started back at the beginning of May.  Being that this is my first time in dry land, all of this wildfire stuff is new to me!  I was already planning my escape plan!  The fire was off in the distance and I could see it burning over the mountains.  To me that was close enough to run!

This one, however is much closer. 

Yesterday, I was on the phone with my mom on my way to the mall and she asked me about this new fire.  I told her that I'm riding in the direction of the fire and it really didn't look that bad.

I went in the mall to by Hubs' Father's Day gift, came back out about 20minutes later and my mouth dropped open at the site of a massive cloud of smoke in the mountains!

There were people stopped and staring all through the parking lot.  

The fire looked terrifyingly huge!

Okay, so I don't know why, but I was compelled to get a closer look.  We drove towards the outside of the city limits because honestly I'd never seem anything like this.  Of course, a sista like me was only gonna go so far!

But I had to snap some shots!

Scary, huh?  This sudden burst of smoke was apparently caused by a "fire storm", a period of winds from 40 to 50 mph.  Wind is the enemy right now!

Today the smoke has died down, but we're at about 5200 acres burned the last I checked. 

It's not in the least bit contained at this point, but they are working like crazy to get it under control. 

I'm just hoping the winds stay away!

Edited to say:  We are fine.  Although the fire is close, Fort Huachuca is to the north of the fire and right now the fire seems to be burning to the east.  But the winds are unpredictable, so we are still on alert.