Humbug Burning...

So for two weeks, I'm away from the festering, burning pit of hell that is the Sacramento Sprawl. This weekend I'm attending/putting on a bachelor party for a good friend up in the wilds of Oregon. Before and after that, I am residing with my parents for a while, enjoying the company of my family and the "charms" that my hometown has to offer. At the end of this all, my better half and I shall go on a short road trip to celebrate the third anniversary of togetherness. Nothing too remarkable... However, this vacation has already proven to be far more, uh, "exciting" than I had anticipated.

You see, tonight I drove home to see this: That's taken from I-5 North of Yreka (I was driving back from Medford where I'd bought an obscene amount of meat to grill up for my friend's bachelor party...) The fire, if you can make it out, was on Humbug, the group of mountains that rise above Yreka to the west. Over-logged sometime before my birth, Humbug has always been, to my knowledge, a barren range, covered by bone-dry sage-brush and manzanita, populated only by assorted wildlife of the unfriendly sort (rattlesnakes, mountain lions, coyotes), the proprietors of meth labs, off-road vehicle afficianados, and mountain bikers. It's always been a tinder-box, an inferno waiting to happen. I remember Humbug burning in the past, but I don't remember it ever threatening property (aside from the meth labs). This time, however, the fire was very low, just above houses I played in as a neighborhood kid. Folks up one more block were evacuated, and though my parents weren't, they were ready to go...

In my attempts to get up to my parents' house to help them clear out in case of an evacuation, and to protect my own belongings housed there, I encountered approximately 1/2 of the population of Yreka - apparently the stupider half - who had come up to the borders of my parents' relatively sparsely-populated and exclusive neighborhood to watch the show on the hill. This behavior infuriated me. One troglodyte on had the gall to motion to motion to me to slow down (from the speed limit) because his clan of fellow troglodytes was occupying roughly 1/2 of the breadth of the street to watch the fire. As his and his kin's property wasn't threatened by the fire, and mine was, I felt that my need superceeded his. Jackass...

Aside from the idiot lookie-loos, "law enforcement" was out in full (and misused) force. I was turned back from my attempts to reach my parents' house. Officer Jackass wouldn't even listen to me long enough for me to explain my situation (yes, I don't live there, but I am currently staying there, I have possesions there, and my dad has a bad back and can't lift too much, so he needs me to help load out...), "resolutely" turning me away. So I parked my car and walked up. I met no resistance, which I find odd, as if the police were really looking out for my safety, couldn't I flee faster by automobile than by foot? Regardless, I regret that the pig's heavy-handed manor infuriated me so quickly and so thoroughly (as such jackass, authoritarian manners always do) that I was unable to communicate effectively to the fellow, and was, quite actually, ready to go to jail for whatever charges he would level against me for whatever I might do in my infuriated state.

Argh. I hate people. Especially the stupid ones...

Regardless, the fire was under controll within an hour of my arrival at my parents' place. Looming evacuation orders were rescinded, the embers died down, and the fire trucks drove away, as did an utter horde of troglodyte lookie-loos who had managed to make it up the hill before the police started blocking the way. I'm glad to know that the police felt it was more important to keep me away from my kin, property, and memories, than to turn back that horde of jackasses.

Argh.

Now the fire seems to be almost entirely subdued, though I can still smell smoke, and I can still hear the activity of some engines further up the hill. I'm not quite calmed down from the enormous surge of adrenaline and fury that my earlier encounters with the good townspeople and peace officers of Yreka produced, and I'm going to have a helluva time trying to go to sleep. Especially considering that with a good gust of wind, I could need to ready for that evacuation after all...