Washington Fire

It seems that all of the Pacific Northwest is on fire these days.  I've been watching the situation with interest because my daughter lives in a suburb of Seattle, Washington, and forest wildfires in that area, all the way down through Oregon, have produced enough environmental smoke to make outdoor activities inadvisable.  Ash from the fires is falling like snowflakes for miles and miles.  Precious natural features are burned and/or threatened.  Firefighters are doing their level-best to contain the fires and mitigate the damage.

Washington is known as the Evergreen State.  They are proud of their trees, considered one of the most precious resources of the area, yet it is dry as cardboard out there right now.  They need a soaking rain, which is ironic for an area that is known to be misty and wet much of the year.  Outdoor burning and campfires have been banned until relief comes, but that hasn't stopped the fires from occurring.

Unfortunately, one of the fires--known as the Eagle Creek fire--didn't happen by accident.  It apparently occurred through juvenile stupidity.  The story that is reported in the news is that there was a group of boys in that area--a park with trails--who were "horsing around", as we call it.  A female hiker saw one boy in the group, a 15-year-old, throw what looked like a smoke bomb into a canyon.  She continued on her hike, then turned around a few minutes later.  When she passed the spot where the smoke bomb went down, she notice a great deal of smoke coming up, smelling of a wood fire.  She ran to the parking area in order to alert the authorities.  There, she saw the boy who threw the firework.  She said, "Do you realize you just started a forest fire?"  His response was, "What are we supposed to do about it now?"  Very quickly, the whole area was ablaze--a fire that has burned many thousands of acres, burned or threatened to burn homes and park lodges, and taken probably millions of dollars to battle.  (And it isn't even close to being contained, as I type this.)  The boy was interrogated by police as part of their on-going investigation into the fire.  He has not been arrested...yet.

I wasn't there to hear the boy's tone of voice or see his attitude when confronted by the hiker, but I do know kids of that age, having worked with teenagers for more years than I care to count.  Their hormones and peer situations take over their still-immature ability to think things through.  (The human brain doesn't physically stop growing until about age 26 or after, which is the cause for auto insurance rates to be so high for young drivers, and especially for guys.  The part of the brain that matures last is the part that affects reasoning--predicting the consequences of one's own behavior.  Dr. Phil calls it "being able to see around corners".)  That's why kids do stupid things.  Most don't do stupid things to be destructive or mean.  They just think what they do will be funny or impress their friends.  (How many times through my years of teaching did I hear, "It was just supposed to be a joke!"?)  Witness the countless senior pranks that go awry every year...or the fraternity hazings...or the fast and reckless driving for which some teens are known.

When I was an upperclassman in high school, a freshman boy took the spindle note-holder that everybody's-favorite-speech-teacher had on his desk and put it on the teacher's chair before he entered the classroom.  The student thought that the teacher would see the spindle before he sat.  The whole class would get a kick out of it, and so would the teacher!  As it happened, the teacher did NOT see it as he sat down.  The spindle impaled him and perforated his intestines.  He was rushed to the hospital and underwent emergency surgery to repair the damage.  The student didn't intend to harm the teacher; he just wasn't thinking about what COULD happen if things didn't go as planned.  Of course, all of the rest of us blamed the kid for being a jerk.

And so it will be with the 15-year-old alleged fire-starter in Washington.  If he is charged and convicted--and maybe even if he isn't-- he will be largely hated for what he did.  (Fueled by anonymity, people on the Internet can be particularly cruel, especially when they don't have or understand all of the details.)  His parents will be chastised for not supervising their young'un closer.  I seriously doubt that the boy went to the park that day with the intention of starting an epic conflagration.  More likely, he and his buddies thought it would be "cool" to throw a firework into the canyon and see it do its thing.  Who knows?

The only thing the kid is really guilty of is being a kid.  Yes, what he did was irresponsible, especially considering the dry environmental circumstances.  Yes, he needs to be held accountable, if he actually was the culprit that started the fire.   How else will he learn?  One of the harsh realities of growing up is that, no matter what kind of punishment the authorities may bring to bear, that boy will have to live the rest of his life knowing what he did.  Every time he passes that area and sees the charred remains of the forest, he'll be reminded that he caused that damage.  When he thinks about the resources wasted, the man-hours expended, the countless animals that lost their habitats or their lives, the people who were displaced, the atmosphere that was befouled so badly that outdoor activities for miles around had to be canceled or moved indoors, he will think, "I'm the idiot that did that.  I didn't mean to, but that's what happened.  I can't take it back."  And it won't just happen over a short time.  The forest will only have just begun to renew itself thirty years from now when the boy is a middle-aged man.  Unless the young man is totally without conscience, he will pay for his immature behavior in lost self-esteem, public scorn, parental sacrifice, and maybe even financial hardship for the family and/or loss of freedom by way of incarceration.  It won't be a good time, regardless of what happens.

I hope I'm right.  I hope the kid, if he truly was at fault, does have a sense of shame that will lead him to be a more thoughtful, responsible person that will spell redemption in his personal life.  I'll pray for that.

In the meantime, the fire still burns out of control.  I feel sorry for all that has happened to that region of beauty that is known as the Pacific Northwest.  I feel sorry for the harm that has come to so many.  I feel sorry for the senseless waste of energy and resources, both financial and natural.  Maybe I really am a "bleeding heart liberal" because, most of all, I feel sorry for that kid.