Good, think Sam and Kathryn Minor as they watch from their little house in the canyon. A little rain might take the edge off the heat. But the rain never comes, and in 15 minutes the storm clouds pass. The West is burning as it hasn't burned in 50 years. What numbers can't convey is the dread and suffering every blaze brings.
Experts say fire is an ecological necessity in the arid West, nature's way of cleaning house.
Sam, especially, had seen hard times the last few years. Age 57 and disabled after two decades of roofing work in Las Vegas, he'd weathered an ugly divorce and the deaths of his two teen-agers. They bought a small house with a big detached workshop, tucked away on two acres between Highway 93 and the East Fork of the Bitterroot River. It is quiet, private and just a stone's throw from the edge of the Bitterroot National Forest. They promise each other this will be the last move they'd ever make.