My Town Monday: Wild Fire in San Diego County
In San Diego County, Fire Season starts at the beginning of the summer and runs through Halloween. Not to say, wildfires don't burn at other times of the year. That's just our "official" season.
We don't get a lot of rain here, about 10 inches annually. So you can imagine the state of our brush: dry and parched. Add in hot Santa Ana winds that blow in from the desert, lightning, sparks from machinery, arson, cigarettes, and campfire, and we're a tinderbox.
This past Friday, Child #4 invited a friend over for a swim. The friend lives three or four blocks from us. Below is the view from my car as I waited for the girls to gather up the friend's belongings. I took all the photos with my Blackberry.
At first, I could only see smoke from this wildfire. There are houses below it. I'm sure people were evacuated.
After a gust of wind, the fire spread along the ridge and I could see orange flames. It's frightening how quickly a wildfire can race out of control.
When we got home, our backyard was filled with the sounds of sirens and helicopters. We could see the helicopters too, flying into the smoke and dropping either water and/or flame retardant chemicals. This photo was taken from my backyard, about 45 minutes after the first photo. You can see the wildfire is now contained. Phew.
Please check out the links to the other My Town Monday posts on the official My Town Monday blog.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2218909720071022