We burned a portion of a prairie yesterday.  As the fire was winding down, a small strip of grass near the edge was burning itself out and I walked over to play around (safely) with some photography.  I’ve always found fire to be beautiful, dating back to my days as a Boy Scout, when I’d get up well before everyone else, get a campfire going, and stare at the flames until the sun came up.  Now that I’m a burn boss, I don’t get to appreciate the aesthetic aspects of our fires very often, except during that small window at the end of operations when everything is secure and the fire is coming to a graceful end.  Most of my feelings about fire today are related to concerns with conducting safe burns, an incredible respect for both the destructive and constructive abilities of fire, and an appreciation for the way prairies respond after a fire.  However, now and then, I am grateful for an opportunity to just pause and enjoy the beauty.

Here are some of the photos I took with my phone yesterday.