Burn, Baby, Burn.

The school is close to being on fire. No, not as in St. Elmo's Fire. As in really real fire.

It's become the norm over the last two months to occasionally detect the faint odor of roasted/burned marshmallows in the air between classes. I've even become accustomed to looking up as I walk back to the dorms in the afternoon and seeing a small plume of smoke rising from the fields across the street from the school. It seems the Kittitians take out their frustrations with their employers by setting the employer's crops on fire: sugar cane.

Doesn't look like much...just you wait.

The last few days, however, have been especially windy due to a small typhoon-like storm that passed over this past weekend (just in time for mid-semester break...). I was actually almost knocked over by a particularly gusty period on my way back to the dorm today. So it stands to reason that you would have to do something particularly mean to tick off a Kittitian enough to light a fire on a day like today.

Apparently, someone did.

The fire initiated high on the rise just between the school and Mattingly, our (hopefully) future home. You can see the scorched land left behind in the wake of the fire's path. As the day wore on, the fire moved diagonally cutting a line pretty much right for the school.

Lots of smoke...sort of hides the flames below...

Oh wait - one peeked his little head up out of the field! I wonder if they can sense we're watching. Maybe they'll put on a show.

This house sits at the border of Mattingly overlooking the ocean. I am able to see it out my window when I lie in bed; I'm obsessed with seeing the inside. If you look to the mid-left of the pic you can see the brown burnt areas where the fires began. Lucky for this sucker, Zepher (Greek God of Western Winds) looked kindly upon his home.

Whatever will we do with our pieces of shit? Where shall we hide them from the burning flames? Oh, wait...car insurance...hmmm....

Now upperclassmen assure me that this is not the first time the fires have gotten so close, nor are these fires nearly as large as a particularly memorable one from last semester. But I think when I can see a WALL OF FLAME from the parking lot next to my dorm, there is something amiss.

A nice vertical shot of the smoke pluming into the sky...

You can start to see some orange there along the grass/smoke line.

Hmm...those power lines power our dorms....fire + power lines = no fun. At least the water runs on propane. Which I believe may be combustible. Catch 22.

Money shot. A bunch of little mini-fires all lined up in a row? OR a BIG WALL OF FLAME?!

Black smoke = no good.

Scott snidely mocking us from his 3rd floor comfort zone. He rides the special bus to school, so we don't pay him much mind. I think they even put a special lock on his door preventing him from leaving during non-school hours. That way he doesn't hurt himself.

Cristin having WAY too much fun watching the fire. Seems every pic of her on this blog shows her having a super duper good time. Rock ON, Cristin.

While we were shooting some amazing shots (Pulitzer material, I think) one of the many security guards on campus ambled over to have a look. While I took comfort in her seemingly attentive attitude towards the fire, I had to ask if she thought there would be any chance that a particularly strong gust could waltz those flames across the road and into the fields by the dorms. She assured me that would not happen, and that there are even now people over there "trying" to contain the flames. I am content.

Besides, should the flames move with malicious intent towards my safety zone I will merely jump into our backyard ocean and swim around the island to Timothy Beach, where I will wait out the dousing of the flames with a cool Carib at Ziggy's.

Never thought I would root for "Fire Days" with as much zeal as I did "Hurricane Days".