I don’t live on the Peninsula, so I didn’t get to vote on the fireworks ban, but I have spent a lot of time there. I have friends there, and love the beaches, the forested parks, the art galleries and shops, and the many places to stop for a snack or meal.

I am originally from Northern California, I lived in the Trinity Alps, and moved to Lake County, CA, because of the increasing frequency and scale of the forest fires in the mountains. And then Lake County began to burn down as well. I have friends there that were trapped in their homes surrounded by fire with no escape. I had other friends that lost their homes. It was a very frightening time.

My father was born in Washington state, and I have cousins here in the state and in British Columbia. I talked to them about the fire danger here, and they didn’t think it was bad, nor did they think it would get bad. So, I moved up.

In the meantime, I have an elder aunt and cousin who were burned out in the Paradise Fire in California. That was a horrifying ordeal. Paradise was a small mountain community; one I spent a lot of time in as a youth. There was only one road out. People died in their cars trying to escape that fire. There is only one road off the Peninsula as well.

Fortunately, my family members escaped, unharmed. They lost everything, however, including a beloved cat. And it seemed to take forever for the insurance money to come in. They were done with living in the forest. They moved to Santa Rosa, into a fairly dense neighborhood where they felt safe. And they got burned out again.

Both of these fires were caused by drought, high wind, and electrical transmission issues.

Now, here in Washington, we are also plagued by fires. We have had whole towns burn down here as well. We are plagued by wildfire smoke, even on the Peninsula, for weeks at a time. It no longer rains as often in the summer, and it seems to rain more in the spring, which only makes the grass and underbrush grow taller, and then dry out.

When you look around in the forests there are fire ladders everywhere. Brush growing densely against the trees, fallen trees leaning on living trees with their dry branches extending into the brush, for instance. This is a prescription for disaster. It is a prescription for the type of disaster that my friends and family have lived through in California, and that other people have lived through in Washington. It is very real.

Our world has changed. We need to change. We must do our best to prevent the same outcomes here that have already happened in other places, including in our own state.

We must be brave and do the right thing. Because if we don’t, when the inevitable happens, we will be to blame.

Take action for prevention. Ban the Boom.

HARVEST McCAMPBELL

Raymond