After a very dry winter, and with a bit of recent warm weather here in North-East Florida, wild fire season has arrived. I actually took this picture a couple of weeks ago, in early March, but the fire threat has definitely not subsided since then. At the time there were actually a couple of very large and out of control fires down to the South East of us … in Duval county. This particular fire, was most likely a controlled burn … we later learned, when we went out the range where it took place. Even so, 4 days later, there were still smoldering logs.
While I’m definitely not a fan of fires, as a photographer, I definitely appreciated the beauty of it … from a distance of course. The contrasting colors were pretty intense, and I liked the way the heat and smoke, combined with the moisture in the air formed a cumulus cloud above the fire. Here’s another shot:
Apparently, leaving Florida in a couple of weeks, will not get me away from wild fires. Not surprisingly, it’s also fire season in Texas. In fact, they’ve already had a couple of fires right there near our house at Fort Hood. My son Justin was just telling me the other day that he witnessed a couple of kids running away after starting a fire in the woods. He did the right thing, and waited for the police and fire department to show up … and was rewarded by getting questioned and searched himself. In the end, I think they ended up catching the little punks … but not sure if Justin will be all that willing of a witness next time he’s sees something like this take place. 
