FIRE!!Follow

Seems a prominent theme in my weekend life. We just go a new woodstove. Our old one wasn't very safe anymore, so we got rid of it after last winter. It's nice to have a cozy wood fire burning next to me again, but a new stove has to burn off all it's newness stuff. We were exiled from our family room Friday night. It was just as well.

My husband has been clearing brush from our woods this past summer. The previous land owner/developer had the land selectively timber cut. They're not very tidy going after THAT tree over there, so we had tracks of downed saplings and stuff. Anyway the brush pile that we'd built up was massive - about 15ft high. Hubby decided to torch it Friday. Seeing as the responsible thing to do was tend to the inferno to insure it didnt' get out of control, we were up ALL night Friday hanging out in the woods. I've not pulled an all-nighter in, like, forever.

The wildfires in Southern Cali - BRUTAL eh. NPR has some good photos up of the fires and the devastation. To any Allakin that may have been, or may be in harms way...good luck - stay safe.

I burned leaves. My car was engulfed in leaf smoke and, this morning, Flea went into my car and thought for a moment that I had started smoking again

Flea must not have a very good sense of smell.

Burning leaves is a very distinct odor. Cigarette smoke smells nothing like it.

I just got home, because I heard police we're finally letting people back in their houses.

I live in Yorba Linda over here... and things just look HORRIBLE.

This place used to be very green.... now everything is all black, and its incredibly difficult to breath. Im running 3 air filters in my house right now, to try and clean the place up. Theres a bunch of ash in my lawn, and some houses down my street are even a little bit scorched. Thank God all our houses are at least standing though... I feel sorry for those who werent so fortunate.

Just across the street from my house is a riverbed, and a bunch of trees grew in that riverbed. Apparently, the fire came over the mountains, and split into 2 paths, surrounding my street. One of those paths led right into the riverbed and the fire just ran all the way along it. Now the riverbed is completely bare... this place just isnt even recognizeable anymore. Orange County wont be the same for many years to come.

Even worse, the fires are still only 10% contained... and traveling to the west as I write this.

My dad, uncle, and me made this awesome fire while camping once. While it wasn't a particularly huge fire it was at least 10ft high and we did have to all sit at least 15ft away to not be burned.. The best thing was that the next day when we awoke we found that the 2 beer bottles my uncle and dad put in the fire had turned into ash.

I drove through the smoke of the Sylmar fire, yesterday night on the way home from Holywood (man, I had a blast at City walk but, way to ruin my drive. The Selfish ******** You would think they would put it out sooner.) and fortunatly the Montecito fire has not burned down Oprahs place yet(a little personal joke, one of my closest friends worked for her). The winds died down here today and it is my feverent hope no one important loses their home.

Yeah, it seems we're clear... the fire has moved well west of us today. I feel kinda sorry for the people in Diamondbar though... sounds like theyre getting hit really hard.

My neighborhood may be pretty scorched up, but we're lucky to at least have houses that are still standing, and all our stuff as well. I went driving around town today to see how the damage was, and it was pretty shocking. There were some houses that were completely burned to the ground, while the neighboring houses on both sides didnt even have a scratch on them. Talk about unlucky...





Wow, really? One of my headquarters is up in Eastvale :D Any chance youre interested in tennis lessons? I'd give ya a hefty discount, and I could really use more clients in the Corona/Norco area :P

If you haven't already, make sure you have your emergency essentials packed and ready to go, in case of an evacuation. My parents had evacuate for the '03 fires and we had ourselves packed for the fires in San Diego last year. The amount of panic and disorganization that occurs right when you hear the evacuation order is unreal.