Fire on the Mountain

For those unable to hear the background sound, please use the button:

This past Friday night, around 8:30 in the evening the dog started barking; she was running back and forth between the front door and the back door getting really worked up. Finally, the wife opened the front door to see what she was barking at. Well, it didn't take long to figure it out:

FIRE!
The hillside at the end of our street was on fire! It was crackling away; sounded like lots of little fireworks. I grabbed the video cam and headed out for a closer look.

Before I get too far along, I should show you a map:


Our house is right in the middle of the map. The street to the north of us is where the fire fighters had set up their command post. We had a few fire engines on our block as well. The blue area is where the fire burned the hillside; it's about 200 yards away from our house.

Take a look at some of the video I shot:


Those firefighters worked long and hard to keep that blaze under control. We went to sleep after 1 AM, and you could hear the chain saws buzzing as they cleared a fire break.

There was a small article about the fire in Saturday's paper, but it did not mention the cause of the fire. I went out and shot some more video in the daytime on Saturday morning. There was also a little piece in Sunday's paper as well, but again, there was no mention of the cause of the fire.

I find it odd that there was no cause mentioned in Sunday's paper; when I was out on Saturday morning, the Batallion Chief was at the end of my street making up his report. I asked him if they knew what caused the fire. He answered that it was almost certainly a bottle rocket:


This really kind of gets me because, as some of you may recall, I expressed my concern over the use of illegal fireworks in my Letter to the City Manager post. He seems to feel that breaking the law and shooting off some fireworks is just some harmless fun; take a look at his commentary for yourself. Now, watch that video again, and you let me know if you think shooting off fireworks is just some harmless fun. As I have repeatedly said, Rick Cole is an idiot!

One thing that was mentioned in Sunday's paper is the new need for monitoring the hillside. Due to the lack of vegetation, it is now a distinct possibility that we could have La Conchita style mudslides this coming rainy season.

Ah, well, such is life in Paradise: Earthquakes, Wild Fires, and Mudslides.

©2005 hpb©reations