Smoke gets in your tentacles

I had a kitchen fire today. My fault entirely; I had made huevos rancheros for breakfast: two eggs, over easy, layered on a fried corn tortilla, smothered in hot sauce. Served with fresh coffee. I carried my food over to the table and ate, forgetting to turn off the burner under the frying pan. When I looked up, there was a haze of smoke over my head.*

I ran to the stove to turn it off, and as I reached for the fry pan, it burst into flames. And then I did another stupid thing; I grabbed the nearest thing, the French press full of fresh water for the next cup of coffee, and threw it on the fire. Smoke and steam billowed out, black oil spattered everywhere. But the fire was out, and I turned off the burner.

The smoke was so thick, I was choking, my eyes were streaming. I opened all the doors and windows and went outside until I could tolerate being inside again. Then, for the rest of the morning, I scrubbed. The stove, the counter, the fridge, the cupboard doors, the wall, the windows, everything glass in the whole apartment, the shelves, the collectibles ... It seemed that everything I looked at had a grey smoke film.

When I was working on the glass, I wiped down the sides of the aquarium. Then I noticed that all the anemones inside had shut down; even the usually happy pink-tipped anemones were puckered green blobs. The smoke had filtered down into the water.

I removed about a quarter of the water, and replaced it. The anemones opened up again.**

Pink-tipped green anemone, on the beach. Out of water, but still wet, and happy about life. No smoke.

And that make me think of the situation over this summer, where much of BC was on fire, when smoke hung over our island for weeks, hiding even Quadra Island, three kilometres away.

What effect did this have on our coastal waters? On the myriad critters who live, breathe, and eat underwater? And worse, what effect did it have on the intertidal animals, exposed to smoke in the air, smoke in the water?

*Another stupidity: I'd turned off the smoke alarm the other day, when it started screaming over the home-made soup boiling (not burning) on the stove. I'd forgotten to turn it back on again.***

**And now, I'll go out and bring home a whole tank full of fresh seawater for my poor intertidal critters.

***Next time, I'll set a timer if I have to turn off the smoke alarm. Or maybe I'll just stop making soup.