A Tale Of Two Fires
By Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy on September 2, 2009 at 10:01 AM in Current Affairs, Endangered Species, Environment
Once again, the State of California is dealing with a massive wildfire. Sadly, two firefighters lost their lives. And it is far from being over as the title of this article indicates, Fire burns 105,000 acres with no control in sight.
It is hard to even grasp the breadth of this wildfire - 105,000 acres is a tremendous area, and it includes a fairly substantial community:
A voracious five-day-old wildfire that has churned through more than 105,000 acres of mountainous brush across northern Los Angeles County showed little sign of slowing down this afternoon as it threatened 12,000 homes in suburban tracts and desert communities, along with a historic observatory and major array of television and radio transmission towers.With afternoon winds picking up, the Station fire, the largest of eight burning in the state, was plowing through dense hillside vegetation and steep terrain toward residential areas of Sunland and Santa Clarita on the west.
As billows of white and black smoke danced ominously close, Chuck Horn ushered his family and his two prized collectors’ automobiles out of his home in the Sunland-Tujunga area.
“We took pictures, tax returns, insurance forms, the dog, the chicken, and that’s it,” Horn, 61, a retired L.A. County public works employee, said as he prepared to drive away in his baby blue 1931 Plymouth three-window coupe. Horn was next planning on moving his black 1911 Buick Model 33 away from the blaze.
My heart goes out to these people, trying to grab whatever they can, not knowing if anything will remain of their homes when they return:
To the east, firefighters were hoping that a concerted effort to cut fire breaks and lay down fire retardant would save the Mt. Wilson Observatory and a key complex of communications towers.Because of the intensity and unpredictability of the blaze, which continued shifting directions, fire crews had to pull out of the mountaintop area today and wait for the firestorm to pass.
By 3 p.m. the southeastern edge of the Station fire had pushed south against the wind, into the upper west fork of the San Gabriel River drainage. This fire was near the base of Mt Wilson’s north side. Firefighters had begun back-burning brush at the juncture of California 2 and Mt. Wilson Road in order to protect structures, including an American Indian cultural center, from the advancing fire.
The drama of families having to flee their homes — or risking all to try and defend their property — played out repeatedly as searing heat and a generation of accumulated hillside growth fed the fires. In Gold Canyon, authorities scrambled to rescue five people who had refused to evacuate.
A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s helicopter was trying to locate the residents near Little Tujunga Road. They pleaded for help after becoming trapped by back fires set by crews trying to fight the blaze.
Sixty-five firefighters withdrew from Chilao Flats near the Chilao ranger station. “The intensity of the fire was too strong,” said L.A. County Fire Capt. Henry Rodriguez. “They were pulled off the lines and drove away in their vehicles. They’re safe and all OK.”
Another fire in San Bernardino County was spreading completely out of control and threatening 2,000 homes near Yucaipa.
Tragic. Just tragic, in so many ways, isn’t it? It encompasses a loss of life, loss of home, and loss of environment on a grand scale.
I have a neighbor who works for the Department of Fish and Wildlife. On more than one occasion he has gone out West to help fight these fires. It is amazingly hot, dirty, exhausting work, and the people who risk their lives to get these raging wildfires under control deserve our respect, and our thanks.
My heart goes out to all of the families who have had to leave their homes. I hope and pray this wildfire will be under control soonest…
And then there is what happens in the time after. You know, the time after the wildfire has done its damage, after it has been contained, after nature has had a chance to regroup.
This article was in my paper on Monday, From The Ashes. You probably didn’t hear about a huge (for us) fire in the Myrtle Beach area last year. But it was big, people lost their homes, things seemed bleak. But no more:
The bugs never stood a chance. Insect-eating plants were waiting.Beetles came out like plague in the cinders of the Myrtle Beach fire earlier this year. They were so thick that if you stood in the forest you could hear them eating the trees, said Deanna Ruth, S.C. Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist.
But the scorched forest was ready for them, little more than a month after one of the worst fires in the state’s history.
An astounding profusion of horror-movie-looking Venus fly traps emerged, opening their carnivorous, teethy spikes in a spectacular display of a plant so rare it grows nowhere else in the world natively. They came out in ribbons like runway carpets stretchingfor a half-mile at times along the edge of bogs in the Lewis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve.(Photo by Just Caroline)
They were so thick biologists found six colonies they didn’t know existed.
Isn’t that incredible? It gets better:
Alongside the fly traps bloomed sundews, even tinier bug-eating plants that look like something you’d see in the Hubble telescope. Pitcher plants emerged, tulip-shaped bug eaters. They bloomed with white fringed orchids and indigo in an almost fantastic reclaiming of more than 7,000 burned acres in the preserve.And the animals came out in numbers that the biologists hadn’t seen in years — deer grazing on the tender new shoots of grasses, quail and wild turkey, whose young feed on insects.
The April blaze that consumed 30 square miles of mostly pine stands and coastal swamps, or bays, didn’t kill the longleaf pine savannahs. It rejuvenated them.
“It burned. There was plenty of open daylight. (The plants) weren’t being droughted out. All the conditions were perfect for these plants to come back and thrive,” Ruth said. “It’s pretty amazing.”
Amazing, indeed! It is incredible how the planet is designed. That wildfires help to cleanse the area, to renew it. But not without a price:
The fire did $25 million damage to some 70 homes in subdivisions cut into the edges of those thick-growing, flammable wilds. Residents still are struggling to rebuild, but the woods already are recovering. And there’s a lesson in that for the Lowcountry, which also is home to miles on miles of “fire adapted communities,” woods and plants that evolved partly because of occasional wildfires.“We need to make sure we burn periodically here,” said botanist Richard Porcher, a professor emeritus with The Citadel. “You have a normal fire, and everything comes right back. If you don’t (burn), when you do have a fire you have a holocaust.”
The recovery hasn’t been unaided. The nearly 10,000-acre preserve has been closed all season while logging crews tried to remove some 1,800 acres of burned trees so ruined that timber companies didn’t want the wood; the majority were sent to the chippers then sold overseas. The loggers managed to cut about two-thirds of that acreage.
Natural Resources plans to re-open the preserve to the public Sept. 16. Guided tours of the fly traps are held in the spring. The plants are a state species of concern, illegal to pick in the wild, Ruth said. Cultivated fly traps can be bought in specialty shops or online.
The fly trap is the piranha of the plant world, eerie and voracious looking. But the plants are so small that Ruth had to point out to a searching preserve visitor that he’s standing on them.
They are a wonder found natively only on the rims of isolated coastal wetlands in North and South Carolina, one of a number of rare plants that thrive at the edges of Carolina Bays. The bays themselves are an enigma — oval-shaped wetlands that pock the entire coastal plain in clusters with an eerie symmetry, each turned northwest to southeast. They are thought to be as old as 100,000 years, and nobody knows how they formed.
The preserve is dominated by one of them, the 786-acre Lewis Ocean Bay. Carolina Bays extend into Georgia, but Venus fly traps are found only as far south as the Santee River.
“Why they never came across the Santee, nobody knows,” Porcher said. “If you knew the answer to that you’d be a famous biologist.”
Isn’t this just incredible? I grew up in NC, and have lived in SC for a while. I never knew that the Venus Fly Trap grew in just this one, relatively small, area. That’s just cool. (I should add, I am a member of our local aquarium, and it has an exhibit on Venus fly traps. But I don’t remember it saying that the locale was so limited.)
It may be hard for those in the midst of this extreme wildfire in CA to even consider that now, and rightly so. They have far more pressing issues at hand, I hope and pray that this fire will be contained quickly, with no more loss of life, and little loss of home.
From the ashes indeed, comes incredible beauty, both flora AND fauna. Down the road, in time, Mother Nature will have the opportunity to work her magic. And if it is anything like what has happened in my state, it will be amazing indeed…
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Sorry this is off topic. I couldn’t figure out which thread it went with! Very powerful!
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/esayet/2009/09/02/america-join-the-obama-coup-or-get-out-of-the-way/
Wow, RRRAmy, that is incredible and amazing. Thanks for highlighting that.
Fire is one of my worst fears. I come from hurricane country on the Gulf Coast, but I’d rather face a hurricane than fire any day. It is tragic, heartbreakingly tragic, and my heartfelt sympathies really go out to those who suffer losses. It is hard to imagine the loss, pain and trauma…for everyone, including the firefighters who put their lives on the line.
Once, I faced the imminent danger of losing my home in a category 5 hurricane headed straight towards my home and had to face such a fear. Just thinking about it shook me to my core and was very traumatic. I didn’t lose my home, or my life, and I’m grateful; but it gave me a glimpse into the horror they feel.
Thank you so much for your comment, Mountainaires. As someone who lives in Hurricane Country, I can certainly understand your sentiments, though, thankfully, I’ve not had to deal with a Cat.5.
And I can sure understand why fire would be one of your worst fears. It is so overwhelmingly destructive (at least in the immediate aftermath). You don’t hear too much of people “waiting out” a fire when their homes are in its path (NOT advocating that, btw - just saying people do it).
Digression: When Hugo came through this area, my parents had friends on one of the barrier islands. Their house was gone, but their teacup collection survived. I know, weird, right? But the cups floated on TOP of the waves, and ended up a couple of blocks away.
Anyway, I totally understand. Thank heavens Mother Nature is assisting in the CA wildfires today…I hope and pray they will be under control soon…
What a great post, an incredible insight into a story which is so sad. I love the thought of having hope for life carrying on in all it’s splendor after such a disaster.
We have a protected prairie, marsh and wooded area near us and every year they have a controlled burn to be sure that it doesn’t become overgrown and to allow the plants that sustain the wildlife that live there.
My thoughts and prayers go out to all those families who are caught in the middle of those wildfires. I especially pray for the families who lost their loved ones as they fought this horrific fire.
Thanks for a great post!
Thanks so much, Nunly! I appreciate that…
Like I said, ours might not seem like much to people in CA who deal with them more, but it was a mighty big issue here. It is just fantastic what has come as a result of them..
We have controlled burns in heavy pine tree areas, but that is a bit different from a wildfire…
Cool abt where you live!
And yes, absolutely, the families of the firefighters are in my prayers, as well as those who are in harm’s way…
jbjd, I hadn’t seen your comment when i mentioned Hugo above (we’re coming up on the 20th anniversary in a few weeks). I was living in the NE then, and definitely remember that time…
It is a testimony to the resiliency of the human spirit, and the planet…
R3A, coincidentally, just last night, I was revisiting videos on line of the New England Blizzard of ‘78. Something inspiring about surviving the devastation of fires, floods, and record snowfalls (and tides), once you have mourned the losses incurred.
Thanks for this story. As a Californian living in a high fire risk area, I keep close tabs on what’s going on here. When I was a kid in Southern Caifornia, we were evacuated in the middle of the night. I remember seeing those flames, never knowing they could get that high and that LOUD.
I didn’t follow the fire on the other coast. Such a sad but very interesting story–especially about those little plants.
Thanks for creating the first story of my day.
Thank you Amy for a very compassionate post!
It is always sad to see the losses of homes and knowing that things look bleak for so many people.
I especially dislike seeing old growth forest destruction, but as stated, nature is a miracle.
Well, luckily there are no old growth forests in the Angeles National Forest but I am sitting here at work in Burbank with a monsoon-yellow glow outside my window from the smoke from the fires in the mountains behind me.
On Monday when I went to work from the other end of the valley, the smoke plume was up about 15000 feet behind my office. The air was so unbreathable I tried to get management to have food sent in.
It’s getting better but the two concerns are: the Mt Wilson observatory and communications and TV towers, and the wildlife station that houses unwanted lions, tigers 7 bears, among other animals I know RRRA with her love of animals will be especially concerned about them. They don’t have large moveable cages to transport them out.
As is usual, all the horses have ended up at a community college at the other end of the valley.
Even further away, opening your windows at night to bring in the cool air also brings in the smoke. For that reason we’re hoping the 100 plus temperatures will subside.
Thank God for the firefighters. Now you know why everyone attacked Schwartzenegger for going after the firefighter pension funds.
oops. lions and tigers & bears - oh my!
Rev Amy,
What a good reminder about coming full circle, you have a knack for that. We are not often available in the throes of an emergency to consider there is a future, or what the future brings. Sometimes we allow ourselves to be humbled when we are in a state of desperation, seeing and understanding the true value of our own lives and the lives of our loved ones and those we do not yet know. Things become just things; photos and keepsakes become the singular possessions to be saved if possible beyond lives(2 and 4 legged). Afterwords, there is a mourning of the life once lived, and sometimes when we are the most fortunate we are able to comprehend the ability to appreciate a “do over”.
I pray for these families and fire fighters. BE safe, take care, and no possession is worth any of their lives.
You are too kind, Katmoon. Thanks!
That’s just it - for anyone who has had the threat of a hurricane, fire, etc. looming, you learn mighty fast what’s important in life. I know others here have had that experience - grabbing the animals, important papers, etc., taking a last look, and leaving. It is hard to do, but as much as the photos and everything mean, they pale in comparison to ensuring the safety of one’s loved ones…
Tricia and Carol, I really appreciate hearing from people who either live in SoCal, or have family there. Thank you so much for the comments.
I think it is hard for those of us who only see this on tv to understand the magnitude of these flames, the ashes falling like snow, the sounds, the smells…
I saw today a new product that one sprays on the house to protect it. These guys got the idea from baby diapers, of all things! It takes abt 4 gallons, costs abt $300, and protects the house for up to 18 hrs. Isn’t that incredible??
Great comments, everyone.
Australian Aborigines used to periodically set fire to the bush to keep the forests healthy.
Also in the last Australian bush fires, so many of the houses destroyed had a lot of trees right up against them. The old timers in Australia always kept the area around the house clear of bush and trees.I can remember my grandmother, who grew up in bush fire country, being very critical of the new way of building houses right in dense bush land.
I read somewhere that Austrailians were not allowed to clear around their homes anymore.
Where is the White House commentary on the California disaster, especially those who were so hard on Hillary and New Orleans?
California is in a mess, and was in so much financial trouble before the fires. The cost of firefighting now and cleaning up the mess later does not bear thinking about.
But decent administration does; good government does. Good forest management does. This state’s citizens elected an actor for Governor. It doesn’t seem to occur to anyone that the state’s problems across the board might have something to do with incompetent government.
While fires are not within the governor’s purview, forest management is, as are the Departments of Natural Resources.
Incompetent government: there’s something we all can relate to.
Does anybody else see a problem in the making?
The wild fires are so bad because of the amount of growth. That means the areas the firefighters save will continue to add to that growth making it even worse when it burns.
There are some places that should have never been opened for development or if they were the residents should have been made aware that upkeep included removing the flammable understory to prevent these kinds of fire.
It is my understanding that they does this all the time. It’s just really hot and no rain ……
Yes this is not getting enough attention. Controlled burning is a sound forestry practice.
It feels like our state is constantly on fire now.
A good friend of mine is an USFS Fire Prevention Officer (who also was a Hot Shot for a long time…meaning she rappelled out of helicopters to fight forest fires) and a lot of her work these days is to educate land owners on what they can do to reduce risk. Cut trees away from their buildings, use fire retardant building materials, be mindful of smoking and BBQs, etc, AND let the Forest Service (FS) do controlled burns in the ‘off season’.
In case any of you heard on Dennis Prager yesterday (?), some Representative whose district is on fire: he made some false statements:
-clear cutting is NOT going into the forest and removing dead trees: That’s fuel reduction, ie. Thinning or selective cutting. Clear cutting is cutting down EVERYTHING in a large swath of land, often leaving the dead brush and detritus on the ground, which in turn can become fuel itself for these fires.
- controlled burns don’t really mean much to the trees. It is going after the brush on the ground, which is the biggest problem in the START of the fire. Remove that brush and you remove a lot of risk. It’s like kindling for your fireplace; you don’t start with the big logs for your hearth, you start with little stuff; it’s the same in the forest.
The real problem in big forest fires is wind; it’ll take that brush fire, force it up the tree, and then make the fire jump from canopy to canopy, instead of creeping along the ground. With that in mind, these developments that are being hit are on hillsides….right where the wind gets channeled and rushed up the hills, often cutting off escape.
And brush/grass fires are not to be underestimated. A couple months before I moved to Idaho years ago, two USFS Fire Fighters were killed only feet from the road…the wind caught the fire and it got to these two poor souls before they could get in their truck (which was on the grass) and escape.
Add to all this the smoke and smell and it’s truly a horrific thing to be near. I’ve seen what the Bisquit Fire in OR/CA did…it was like the moon…nothing was left.
Take care out there, folks…
Wow - thank you so much for this very informative comment. The points you have listed are important.
And your friend is one courageous, brave woman.
One of my neighbors works for the Dept. of the Interior, and he often goes to CA to fight fires. It is difficult work indeed. And very dangerous…
So sad abt the firefighters who were lostin ID so close to safety…
Thank you!
Yes, these fires are awful.
She lost two people at her “office”, including her boss who was a wonderful person. They were driving on a forest service road at night, in very thick smoke. The truck went off the road and plummeted 800ft into the ravine.
Very, very sad.
And sorry, I should have said Thank You for the article. It is very good.
One specific place to look at after a disaster is Mt. St. Helens. Horrific tragedy that decimated everything in its path. However, the area is slowly coming back to life…like an extended spring. The signature of REAL hope.
Ces,
Great for relaying this information again, as it can never be enough. Do you recall the Hanford Site fire, in 2000? If the natural native bunch grass not been removed by bulldozers, that fire would not have gone onto burn 40,000 acres, and threaten 8 reactors. DOE scrapped away what nature provided for a good fire wall and in its place grew the terrible dry grasses and tumbleweed, a.k.a. kindling.
Oh, brother. Ya know, nature really does know best…
And ces, that is so sad abt the people your friend lost in her office!! What hard, hard work. We cannot thank those folks enough for what they do.
Mt. St. Helens is a GREAT example.
Thanks - I appreciate that, and your comments, too!
Katmoon, no, I missed hearing about that, even though I had been on the west coast for about two years by that point.
I have seen the plants (Hanford??) that were built on the side of hill; one of which had to be shut down permanently(?) due to the whole bloody thing literally falling down the hill. I’m for nuke power, but ya gotta do it right or else (speaking of disaster!!!).
Well to be fair, it is law in CA that residents are to clear brush near their homes and have a defensible space on their property.
Some people are clearly ignoring their responsibility to their neighborhoods. But it isn’t for lack of knowledge there are PSAs which state this in various media venues.
Also to be fair, these aren’t typical forest environments with undergrowth that people are refusing to clear because it is so pretty. The Los Angeles National Forest is a lot scrub brush on steep hills that is difficult and dangerous to clear.
Note the pic and scrub brush behind it.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2022/2275824125_6183ac6d54.jpg
Great article.
As many of you know from my previous comments, my son lives and works in Los Angeles (hence, the “I’m willing to cut, burn, punch, goughe ……….. and then waterboard with alcohol KSM” to keep LA from being hit, “mentality”).
He left for a week at “Burning Man” last Saturday. Who knew, he could have just stayed in LA with a runny nose from all of the smoke and heat ………….
CAROL HAKA
My prayers to those that lost their lives, family members and their property and possessions …….
Stubborn perpetuation of life, and nature’s intelligence.
See when you read stories like this how can people not believe in miracles?
Great post RRRA.
Yeah, funny how that works, huh?
Good post, Rev Amy!
Thanks for this post RRRA. It’s heart wrenching but hopeful. I too pray that there is no further loss of life. Thanks again.
There is something comforting and calming about watching a disaster movie on TV. There is also a guilty fascination about watching real disasters on TV–fires, earthquakes, floods, etc. It is elsewhere–I am cozy and safe in my house watching my big-screen TV. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow: that’s cozy. Let the stock market fall, fall, fall: I’m broke anyway. But this attitude isn’t far from: let it burn, let it burn, let it burn.
Moreover, this is real, not a disaster movie, and I must think of all the little terrified animals that are trapped in the fire and will die a horrible choking painful death. I must remind myself not to get too complacent. These fires are not too far down the freeway from home.
I live in San Diego. Two years ago we had to evacuate and my son’s apartment burned down. It is truly miraculous how quickly the black, charred earth is covered with new green shoots. It takes only a few weeks. There are plants here whose seeds need fire to germinate.
The bad part about after-the-fire is that the barren hillsides will be ripe for mudslides in the rainy season. There is supposed to be an El Nino forming now, and so we’re hoping for a wet winter.
ces,
I’m so sorry that those firefighters died. Your friend is a brave woman.
I can tell you without even being there that all over the fire-affected area you will see hand-made signs out all over the place thanking firefighters. We know who our heroes are and we appreciate them very much.
Thanks, she would appreciate the sentiments. She’s traveled all over the country helping out and the local always seems to show them a lot of hospitality.
Sandi, thank you so much for sharing your story. I am thankful that you and your son were able to get out safely (though sorry abt his apt!).
And yes, it is amazing how quickly nature can reclaim the earth. But good point abt the mudslides y’all have out there, too. Wow…
I just don’t understand how anyone could live Los Angeles with all those natural disasters that inherent to that city:
- earthquakes
- wildfires
- mudslides
- celebrities
HaHa, hokma. You forgot smog.
But the American cultural landscape would be much impoverished without LA & Southern Cal. For example, just think of the homeless detectives–Lieutenant Columbo, Lew Archer, Philip Marlowe, Hieronymous Bosch–and many others. Ah, California dreamin’ . . .
Hey, we also have flood, tidal waves, and I think I saw a small tornado once. Rip tides, dense fog, & drought. And Paris Hilton.
I love L.A. (thanks, Randy Newman).
ellen,
Do you like Steve Martin’s movie, LA Story? It’s one of my favorites!
I luv it!
A beautiful post! I never knew that about the fly-traps, I’m glad I know it now.
I lived most of my life in Calif., and heard that there is some tree whose seed pods (or whatever they are) must be burned in order to germinate. Fire is cleansing to the land and some plant-life. It is, however, a terrifying and dangerous force at the same time. My daughter lives in Oak Glen and called me Sun. afternoon after she was evacuated. She got her pets and the important things she could (like her wedding photos, insurance papers, birth certificate). We agreed that if the house burned, the rest of it was just things. Even if treasured mementoes, they were things. Life is much more important, and she was safe and her animals were safe. Luckily the house did not burn, and early this morning the evacuation was finally lifted and she could go back home.
BTW, the area of the Oak Glen fire had not burned in 85 years, which contributed to the ferocity of that fire. The firefighters and local ranchers and others who stayed behind to fight the fire did a tremendous job; as far as I’ve heard, only one structure had some damage, and no apple orchards were lost (critical to the economy). There was a second fire, closer to the city of Yucaipa, which started a day later. That area burned 20 years ago, but many many more homes were threatened by that fire. I believe it a good thing it was fueled by “only” 20 years’ growth, instead of the 85 of the other fire, or I’m sure homes would have been lost.
many Australian plants require fire for germination; in CA it’s probably Pinus aristata/ bristlecone pine or perhaps Ceanothus greggii/ desert ceanothus that you’re thinking of.
Thanks, CaGirlinME! It really is remarkable, isn’t it?
SO glad your daughter and her babies got out safely. I do hope she still has a house to which she can return, though…(Yes, just things, to be sure, but wow, what a loss that would be to the heart…)
Thank you for the additional info. That makes a lot of sense if they hadn’t had a fire there in so long..
And you people up-thread, joking around abt what happens in LA? You are freakin’ cracking me up!! Celebrities….Teehee!!
Thanks RRRAmy, she did have a home to return to. I didn’t hear of any homes being destroyed in the Oak Glen/Yucaipa fires, they were very fortunate there. She’s back home as of Thurs. (could have been Wed. but for other circumstances), and her husband is home for the weekend from the Army, last visit before his deployment (a bigger worry to me than wildfire). She’s very happy right now!
Several posters have talked about the necessity for controlled burns and that residents need to clear brush. Most, but not all, residents do clear a defensible space around their homes, approx 100 feet. But this fire is in a National Forest which residents are not responsible for clearing and neither is the State of California. Here is a link to an article from the San Diego Union-Tribune which describes some of the difficulties regarding forest management.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/mwpzl5
Oh good, that’s always progress, poor people that have to endure such a tragedy; our prayers to the Lord are with you. Keep strong…