Thursday, August 30, 2007

Where there's smoke...


I realize that this is not a very good picture (I took it with my cell phone and don't know how to make it bigger), but this is the fire currently burning above my house on Montebello Ridge. It started around noon today and has since doubled in size. They are currently fighting it with ground crews along with helicopters equipped with buckets and a DC-10 which drops red-colored fire retardant. (It's actually pretty cool to watch the DC-10 make it's passes over the fire).
At this point no homes are in danger, although there have been some voluntary evacuations. We are far enough away (about 5 miles with a ridge between us) that we are not in any danger from the fire. The only worry is that there is ash dropping all around us. Our home is surrounded by an open space preserve, which is bone dry this year due to a current drought. So the ash is a little disconcerting, but not worrisome... At least not yet.

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