"It's, uh, field burning...?"
I had never heard of such a thing, but remember, in summer of 1980, we were about to elect Ronnie Ray Gun president, and people my age grew up expecting to die- sooner rather than later- in a nuclear holocaust.
"You're sure?"
"Um... Yes?"
"Okay... sorry"
Now I suppose if you grew up or had spent some summers in the the Willamette Valley, you wouldn't think twice about it, and I know controlled burning is and long has been an important tool in agricultural management. Here, it's used mostly for hay and grass seed, two important products in this region; it gets rid of older waste that would shade and interfere with a second harvest's growth, and it kills a wide variety of pests and their eggs. The series of photos below were taken over a period of a few minutes.



Their plans ended forever when the smoke of a field burn blew across the highway on the afternoon of Aug. 3, 1988. Blinded by the smoke and in the smoky darkness the Rodewald’s van was hit from behind by an 18-wheeler and shoved beneath the vehicle in front of them. The family was burned alive in the fire that swept over the accident. In all, seven people were killed and 38 were injured in the 23-vehicle disaster that made headlines across the country. The only member of the du Aime-Rodewald family to survive that day was Kate’s son Wills, who had stayed home with his grandmother.Afterwards, field burning was heavily monitored, restricted and regulated. The annual acreage burnt has dropped from about 170,000 to about 50,000. A bill is currently wending its way through the Oregon Legislature to restrict it even more heavily, due to concerns regarding respiratory health; burning will be restricted to a few particular counties and a few particular crops. The annual acreage burnt is estimated to drop to 15,000, less than a tenth of that when I was an undergrad here in my little burg.

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