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October 22nd, 2007 - Fire -   2007/10/23 | Viewed 128 times this month, last update: 2007/10/28
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| Sunday, I got home from camping in Big Bear, to the news that trailing me was a wild brushfire, fueled by the "Santa Ana" winds. This has happened for three years in a row, so I wasn't too worried. Then Monday, we got news that Portola Hills was under voluntary evacuation. So I rushed home from work, and Vanessa and I packed all of our valuables and irreplaceables. When the fire crested the ridge viewable from the park right across the street from our house, we left.
This morning we returned to find that the fire was not threatening our house (much), but was still burning quite fiercely!
We're staying for the moment, but we're packed up and ready to leave at a moment's notice!
Here's some more pictures from today, as the fire came around to our eastern side, down Santiago Canyon Road toward the Cook's Corner area, and as you can see, we finally got some air support!
Wednesday evening, after I got home from work, I got to take some pictures of a helicopter that was using the park across the road as a fueling/refilling point. Vanessa'd been taking pictures of it, and talking with the crew for most of the day. The chopper they were using can carry 360 gallons of water (they often drop
Phos-Chek, but today was water). It uses 100 gallons of jet fuel an
hour. The pilots work 24 hour shifts, so after dropping water all day on our
fire, they will go out on search and rescue missions all night. This
model is a Bell, and they were running four minute trips from morning to dusk.
I also got to take a small panorama of the burnt-out valley that used to be a beautiful place to hike, ride and relax.
Update: 2007/10/28
We (residents) regained access to the park, and so I got to take some pictures. Pretty scary to me.
This picture shows the part of whiting ranch called "Hidden Valley", where I loved to walk, and take pictures. Deer liked to hang out there, as can be seen from my Whiting Ranch Hiking article.
And here's a picture to give you an idea of just how close the fire got to my house. My house is right behind the cars in the upper right of this picture:
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Comments:
Steve K (2007-10-23): Glad to hear your house is safe! I was wondering how things were up there.
Matt Bell (2007-10-23): I think that I'll stick to bringing rain when I visit, bringing wind and fire just isn't working out..
Erik (2007-10-23): Thanks Steve.
Yeah Matt, you were a whirlwind of disaster this weekend! I hope when you come down next week, all you bring is fair weather and good wine!
See also: October 20th, 2007 - Big Bear Camping
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