It seems like whenever my fair state, Oregon, is in the news it is for something less than happy. There was Tonya Harding, our princess turned outcast. There was Bob Packwood, the man who helped to make "sexual harrassment" a household phrase. The local media even found a way to connect Monica Lewinsky to Oregon.

Every summer wild fires take top billing in the local news and this summer is particularly busy for firefighters. In fact, Oregon is the nation's #1 trouble spot for fires. Number one! No matter how horrible people are always happy to be number one, especially people who are often ignored in favor of California or Washington. The news people seem almost giddy when they say that Oregon is the nation's number one focus for wild fire danger. That isn't cool. That sucks. Firefighters are actually dying out there. Oh well, enough of that. Check out these cool pictures from my house:

So as you can see, glorification of suffering is wrong. I just post these terrifying images from my own neighborhood as a public service. The pictures are not meant to brag in any way about how cool it is to live near a fire, nor are they meant to sensationalize the fire season in the least.

We're number one!