Oh yeah, fireworks are about the worse idea ever but idiots are idiots.
Three homes have burnt down in my small unincorporated rural area this year and none of them had “fire-wise” landscaping. (That means the weeds were knee high and drier than straw.) There is usually only one or two a year. I get so very angry at idiots who throw lit cigarette butts out their car windows.
The forecast for today is 114 F and tomorrow, 113 F.
Lytton, BC had the highest “ever” (OK - maybe in the last 125 years or so since recording started) recorded temperature in Canada yesterday at 46.1 C (around 115 F).
It’s forecast to be 47 C (almost 117 F) the next two days.
Today’s fire update:
Snake Fire
The fire is burning 7 miles west of Clint Wells on the northern edge of West Clear Creek in Coconino National Forest.
Walnut Fire
The Walnut Fire is burning southeast of Tucson, near Interstate 10. The fire is 7 miles northwest of Dragoon.
Alamo Fire
The fire is burning 10 miles west of Nogales between Mexico, the Coronado National Forest and the Nogales Ranger District.
West Chev Fire
The West Chev Fire is burning 13 miles from the Forest Lakes community in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests.
Wyrick Fire
The Wyrick Fire is burning 2 miles northwest of Heber in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests.
Rafael Fire
The fire is 4 miles north of Perkinsville, east of Highway 89. The fire is burning in Prescott National Forest, east of the Rock Butte Fires.
Rock Butte Fires
A thunderstorm ignited several fires north of Paulden and west of Highway 89, including Red Hat Fire, Limestone Fire, Spring Fire, Rock Butte Fire and Silent Fire. Red Hat Fire, Limestone Fire and Silent Fire have been 100% contained.
Backbone Fire
The Backbone fire is burning 11 miles west of Pine, south of Highway 260.
Horton Fire
The Horton Complex consisted of four fires burning in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, 5 miles northeast of Hannagan Meadow. On June 25, the fires merged and that is now referred to as the Horton Fire. The blaze is burning within the Wallow Fire scar.
Bear Fire
The Bear Fire is burning 10 miles south of Hannagan Meadow in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, near U.S. Highway 191.
Moore Fire
The fire is burning near Clifton and 12 miles west of Alma, New Mexico, on Charlie Moore Mountain.
Pinnacle Fire
The Pinnacle Fire is burning in Coronado National Forest, approximately 13 miles south of Bylas.
Slate Fire
The fire is burning approximately 23 miles northwest of Flagstaff, originating on Slate Mountain.
Telegraph Fire
The Telegraph Fire is burning a mile and a half southeast from Superior in Tonto National Forest. Fire crews are monitoring U.S. Route 60 and Forest Service Road 651. This fire has quickly become one of the biggest wildfires in Arizona history. Telegraph merged with Mescal Fire on June 16.
Hobo Fire
The fire is burning 13 miles west of Alma, New Mexico, in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests. The fire is 2 miles west of Charlie Moore Mountain.
Republic reporter Monica D. Spencer contributed to this story.
The sky is still gray and I’m seeing ash falling.
jeebus; that’s a lot of fires and that’s just AZ
I don’t know about the rest of the NW, but Portland is getting a bit of a break tomorrow (Tuesday). It’s only going to be 95 F, which is about 20 degrees cooler than today. We’re already getting somewhat cooler air tonight than the same time last night.
95 sounds dreamy. Enjoy the cool down. 
The fire season is just getting started. Bad as things are here, I am very much afraid that its going to be worse in California very shortly. If not this year, next year for sure.
The ruling blackouts have begun:
Here’s my favorite part of the article:
They actually started yesterday in Spokane, but they were not well planned like they hope to do today. Oddly, the poorer parts of town are the ones losing power.
“Oddly”?
The heat is killing people:
Lytton, British Columbia, described variously as a town or a village, earlier this week set the record for the hottest temperature ever recorded in Canada (something like 120 F, nearly 50 C), beat that record a day later, and now has burned to the ground.
I came in to post the AP story:
I can’t find a link, but Maricopa county (where Phoenix is) is reporting almost 70 heat deaths this year.
June beat the heat records for Phoenix. Not only were the high temps higher than normal, the low temps were also higher than normal.
This sort of heat is killing cactus state wide. Just let that sink in for a while.
There may be more heat-caused deaths reported in the next few days. It’s no longer that hot, at least not here in the Portland area, but late reports may add to the total.
That’s probably paywalled, but it goes on to say that things are going from bad to worse with no end in sight.
This happened two weeks ago; I just found out about it: the city of Lemoore, CA (pop. 26,107) had an accident last week that resulted in 1 death, 1 injury and a shitload of damage including the loss of a 1,500,000 gallon water tank and all the water inside it.
2 minute video:
Local news story as they prepare to restore some service:
Huh. How the hell did that happen? Too much water coming in and no way for it to get out? That’s crazy.