SEMANTICS

I am OFTEN amazed at how the language has changed in MY LIFETIME!  The most recent is the sign by the USFS which reads "STAFFED FIRE - DO NOT REPORT!"   Nearly 40 years ago when we moved to Strawberry, the mile-hi hamlet surrounded by National Forest, the term was "Controlled Burn - do NOT report" but so many of those small fires got OUT OF CONTROL that the term used was "Prescribed Burn - do NOT report"  So burning the forest was a way of helping it but only if the burn stayed in bounds!!

So now we have evolved to "staffed fire - do NOT report" - does that mean that someone in an office somewhere knows that there is a fire here? Or that there are trained fire suppression officers ready and willing to put their lives on the line to put out this fire should it become "out of control!!"?  I really don't know, but praise GOD, especially this year, that there are fire fighters ready and willing and well-trained to do just that. 

Now if ANY of these fires in Northern California, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, or even Southern California that were human caused - I hope that the perpetrator doesn't brag about it as I would personally string him or her up over a smoldering fire!  Maybe some Vigalante Justice would put a stop to the thoughtless acts we see so often on the news!  OR MAYBE NOT?!

Scary Times we live in.