Burning Season

Baptists ministers are adept at preaching fire and brimstone. Colorado Springs residents are getting a taste of Hell on Earth at an enormous fire burns out of control along Route 24. Police have evacuated the city and the governor has admitted that the city is at the mercy of the nature. "There is nothing firefighters could do when you get this kind of weather." Gov John Hickenlooper said at a press conference. "The bottom line is we're just going to have to work through this — all of us. We just flew over the fires. ... It was like looking at a military invasion." The heat and wind are stretching the limits of firefighters' endurance. Homes are torched by flash floods of flames. "This is a firestorm of epic proportions," said Colorado Springs Fire Chief Richard Brown to the Denver Post, which has reported another blaze near Boulder. And late-June is the start of the fire season with hundreds of hottest temperature records falling daily across the nation. July could be a monster month for hot. Kansas smolders in the 100s. Rain is a distant memory. Bible Belters are on their knees praying for a break from the heat wave, as corn crops withered under the relentless sun. This will get worst before it gets any better, but at least James Inhofe of Oklahoma won't try and refute global warming with his state hot enough to cook back on a sun-heated frying pan. The temperature this morning in Sri Racha Thailand is a cool 81. This afternoon will be in the 90s. Better here than Witchita.