Southern California Fires

[abraxas]

I was out shooting distance photos of the Lake Arrowhead and Green Valley fires for one of my web sites LakeArrowheadCalifornia.NET and snapped this before I finished. Thought it had a bit of a look to it.

The layer of smoke on the bottom is from the Lake Arrowhead fire, which has been consuming homes in the community. Last night about 1:00 am or so before I hit the sack, the last word I heard was "total evacuation." This means not only all residents, news crews, etc., but also fire fighters and command centers.

The layer of smoke at the top is from the Green Valley fire- about 6 miles away from the Lake Arrowhead blaze. I've heard minimal news about this fire. There are too many other fires that have priority.

Here's a shot from a week or so ago showing Lake Arrowhead from the opposite side. This was taken from the Kelly Peak Fire Lookout.

 

[LaFoto]

:shock: Oh dear. We hear about those fires here in Germany, too!
You could mistake the layers of smoke for clouds, easily, but now that you say what it is your photo shows... ale:

What time of the day did you take this photo? The shadows are still or already quite deep.

 

[abraxas]

:shock: Oh dear. We hear about those fires here in Germany, too!
You could mistake the layers of smoke for clouds, easily, but now that you say what it is your photo shows... ale:

What time of the day did you take this photo? The shadows are still or already quite deep.

This is about 7:30 am. I posted a couple of the grainy shots here

There's link to yesterday's shots on the site beneath the photos I took this morning.

I had just heard that at the lake there have been over one hundred homes burned to the ground.

 

[LaFoto]

All very frightening! And terrible for those who lose their homes!!!

 

[Antarctican]

It's mind-boggling what's happening there....seems to be a 'worst case scenario' coming true, especially with the high winds they're predicting. My heart goes out to the people whose homes and businesses are affected.

 

[abraxas]

The San Diego area is the worst hit so far with over 1,000 homes and businesses lost. Lake Arrowhead has lost between 100-200 homes. Something about in Malibu(?) the fire is expected to reach the ocean. Satellite photos show the plume from the smoke going what looks like several hundred miles over the Pacific.

I can't remember how many homes were lost years ago in the Oakland firestorm. The flames could be seen from space. I think that was the worst. I was going to go down the Cajon Pass to the LA Basin today, but it has been closed off and on due to fires and downed powerlines.

I've heard no reports on loss of life or injury. If there is any good news out of this it's that the fires are relatively small in size of acreage, at least in the fires in my area. I think about 5,000 total. The fires we had several years ago took hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of acres. Crappy good news.

 

[bellacat]

I still cant get over the news of the Sp CAl Fires. Both DH and I have family down there but luckily so far they life far enough away not to be affected yet. Thanks for posting the photo.

 

[RKW3]

I live about an hour drive away from San Diego. These fires really are horrible.

The air here is just horrible right now, which is rare because I live about a 5-10 minute drive away from the beach!

I just REALLY want the weather to get better, to clear up the air quality, and so the firefighters can get something done against the fires.

 

[faux toe graph]

Wow, depressing stuff. My heart goes out to everyone affected by this disaster. One thing's for sure, Mother Nature will always come by and give us a reminder of who's really in charge. Nice captures, I especially like the first (I love trains).

 

[Bear]

It's gettin really close to home now. From what I hear from friends you could see the flames from the dorm rooms at my school (cal state san bernardino) before they were evacuated. School has been down since monday and will be til friday...or even later