Fire is a natural process, but natural processes are not always pleasant. During the summer of 2013 a major forest fire swept through the Black Range: trees were burned; helicopters were flying; people were evacuated from their homes; and every day brought a new report of acres burned, smoke indexes, fire crew status….
What we saw and felt…The Silver Fire Blog
During the summer of 2013, the Silver Fire burned much of the Black Range, or at least that is what we thought at the time. We worried, we helped however we could, but mostly we turned our faces to the Black Range and watched.
It was especially traumatic for the people of Kingston, the fire was at their doorsteps, they were evacuated, they worried more, their gaze was not always at the crest of the Black Range. Their gaze was often toward Kingston.
During that time, the Black Range Rag carried a special blog: “The Silver Fire Blog” - some how a title that was less precise did not feel good in the stomach, it was not a time for catchy titles. The blog was one of several sources which the people of the Black Range were able to use to keep informed about the status of the fire.
- So begins “The Silver Fire - As We Lived It”
The blog entries on the Free Range and Silver Fire Blogs captured our thoughts as we lived through the Silver Fire. This reprint of those blog entries and never before published images by Véronique De Jaegher and Catherine Wanek are a vivid reminder of what the communities of the Black Range went through during the summer of ’13. Although reformatted to fit this publication, the blog entries otherwise remain unchanged. Read the blogs carefully and you will see that our understanding of what was happening; changed over time, was not always clear, and was full of dread and hope.
At the end there are photographs of the fire and Range which were not published on the Black Range website.
- The Silver Fire - As We Lived It (30.5MB)