After the 10-03 wild fires

Forehead

The California wildfires of October 2003 burned up a lot of land, but a big change in the weather the following month changed things for the better.

For any of you that saw my shots of the fires, here's a bit of eye-candy to clear the smoke!

Frog Lady

I remember those fires! We live at the foothills of the San Bernardino Mtns, not too far from where the Old fire started. It was a nice clear Sat morning, we were at the soccer fields (of course) and see this nice column of smoke off in the distance. The winds picked up and within a couple of hrs, they canceled the rest of the games due to smoke.

Over the next week, we were almost evacuated twice as a grove of orange trees they let die (in prep for new development) about 1/4 mile from our house caught (but was quickly extinquished) and then almost caught again a few days later. It's amazing the job the fire fighters did (my hats off to you) - you could see the fire line right to back yards of houses, but not one was lost in my particular area. The campus I work at was closed for 3 days and we did lose some out bldgs there. It was quite the week.

If forehead doesn't mind, I got some incredible pictures (w/ my p&s) that I could post.

C.

Forehead

"IF forehead doesn't mind"?
Don't wait for MY permission, Professor!

Frog Lady wrote:

I remember those fires! We live at the foothills of the San Bernardino Mtns, not too far from where the Old fire started. It was a nice clear Sat morning, we were at the soccer fields (of course) and see this nice column of smoke off in the distance. The winds picked up and within a couple of hrs, they canceled the rest of the games due to smoke.

Over the next week, we were almost evacuated twice as a grove of orange trees they let die (in prep for new development) about 1/4 mile from our house caught (but was quickly extinquished) and then almost caught again a few days later. It's amazing the job the fire fighters did (my hats off to you) - you could see the fire line right to back yards of houses, but not one was lost in my particular area. The campus I work at was closed for 3 days and we did lose some out bldgs there. It was quite the week.

If forehead doesn't mind, I got some incredible pictures (w/ my p&s) that I could post.

C.

Frog Lady

Here's one from my house of a water hose 'copter (see the hose hanging below it's belly). The hills were a longish 1/2 block up and across a street.

Frog Lady

there are several types of water dropping helo's; this one looked to have stored in all in his belly.

Frog Lady

this one is dropping flame retardant on the dried orange groves (on the left of the image). The top most section of the groves had got and, man, they hit it hard and fast!

Frog Lady

There was a small reservoir in our home owners association, so I took my boys over to watch the helo's load up. They were coming one right after the other. These looked to be relatively small "standard" (?) helicopters that couldn't carry as much volume, but I'm sure every bit helped.

Frog Lady

The flames at night were especially impressive, especially during flare ups. I don't think I did this one justice, but it is kinda scary watching the hills by your house burn!

This fire merged w/ one West of us, and there was close to a continous line of fire ~20 miles long. I think most of the damage were houses near the "Old" Waterman canyon where the fire started and a small bedroom community near Crestline (by Lake Arrowhead). This was in addition to the fires near San Diego that were started by a lost hunter shooting off his flare. (The one my me was believed to be arson)

Thank god these are old pictures, but it's an interesting feeling waiting every summer for the inevitable fires. This year was weird in that there were so many late in the season (ie, January, normally our "wet" season).

Colleen

PS - forehead, thanks for letting me hijack this thread

Forehead

Cough-cough!
You didn't need to buy any cigars then, did you?!

Not that I want to see any more fires but, if any more flare up, I hope I can get some action shots of the Sky Crane helecopters doing their dumps but, I think you beat me to it

Frog Lady wrote:

Here's one from my house of a water hose 'copter (see the hose hanging below it's belly). The hills were a longish 1/2 block up and across a street.

Awais Yaqub

nice capture i hope fire cools down soon

Frog Lady

Awais Yaqub wrote:

nice capture i hope fire cools down soon

thanks for the comments. yeah, not bad for a small old point and shoot. These were from a couple years ago, and we shouldn't have to worry about more until this summer fall - but unless we get significantly more rain, it might be a bad fire season.

And Forehead, it wasn't too hard to get some of those helicopter shots, given that they were almost constantly flying over head!

C.