The fire explodes at 4:45 pm

Unabated by man or machine and assisted by high winds, the fire above us exlpoded today, Tuesday, at 4:45 p.m. and now hosts flames that can be seen from downtown Missoula. These photos are taken from two vantage points: Our friends' Robert and Suzy Peraino's home above ours and (b) from Rock Creek Road. As my new best firefighting friends from Mammoth Lakes CA (who are here to defend our structures) just said, "It is now upon us."

RCR