Wild fire
The blue sky can be seen thru the brown haze from the 2 week old “Day Fire”. 2 days ago the sun looked bright red but today it looks ‘normal’. The whimsical wind has been blowing the wild fire backwards leaving Ojai to sort thru the fine ash that fell like a ticker tape parade. Many folks sported dust masks.
I stir awake, stretching under the covers and catching a glimpse of the man talking. He’s a slender 50ish laid-back gent.
“Anyone home?” PAUSE “Anyone home?”
“Uh… yeah, what’s happening?
“The fire’s coming, its three miles from Lion’s Camp. The police evacuated everyone last night at 4 AM. Didn’t they wake you?”
“No.”
“Oh well.” He and another older dude are running a fire hose from the river to the road in between our two houses. He makes a few suggestions on how I can begin to make the house and property more fire resistant. Get pine needles off the roof. Get pine needles away from the house, etc..
While small white and grey ash falls from the sky like New England snow flurries, I run around, move hoses into position, cover piles of wood with plastic tarps and try to forget that a firestorm will make all my flimsy preparations moot.
Gathering up the cats proved to be easy with Topa topa and Laleak but seemingly impossible with Oachie. So, Topa, Laleak and I evacuated the canyon as the ashes made the wind more visible, swirling funnels in our wake. Oachie was staying. We wished him well.
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Comments (7)
Those were unsettling days, Didj. We still have a pile of memories and essentials by the front door ready to throw in the truck, that I guess we need to reintegrate at some near point. Hey, enjoyed your "oil shower" post on Bardo Surfer... hope Burning Man ended up OK for ya. -Tyler
Comment #1 Posted by: Tyler | September 29, 2006 12:14 PM
I'm calling the day fire the endless fire now - when will this thing end?
My Burning Man experience, like plumbing in an old house, has many twists and turns. Tune in to Bardo Surfer to find out what happens next!
Comment #2 Posted by: Michael Didj | September 29, 2006 12:27 PM
Somewhere it was printed as the Day-To-Day-To-Day Fire...
On a factual note, we'll have heavy equipment working the fire from the Soule Park basestation for the next month or so, and additional personnel, including forest rehabilitation people, for another month beyond.
Comment #3 Posted by: Tyler | September 29, 2006 12:32 PM
Firemen have called it Groundhog Day's Fire.
Comment #4 Posted by: Kate | September 29, 2006 01:55 PM
oops...Sorry....was meant to be...
Groundhog's Day Fire.
Comment #5 Posted by: kate | September 29, 2006 01:56 PM
Keeping essentials like my wedding video, high school and college diplomas and insurance forms in a fire-proof safe defintitely gives me peace of mind when I'm away from Ojai. But I do worry about my dog.
Comment #6 Posted by: Lisa Snider | October 1, 2006 12:49 PM
I've heard around from many,
that they wonder why they just didnt bring out the big--- equiptment ...when the day fire was small and just started.....instead of waiting til it became a really huge fire....and now has cost soo much. ??? Is it due to bureaocracy ? If so this NOW CALLED--
MONTH FIRE ....should be a wake up call.....to get past the red tape and PUT FIRES OUT right in the beginning...and not wait.....til they get very large, and cause soo much distress, waste, global warming,
and bad air to breathe into our lungs.
a concerned citizen
Comment #7 Posted by: dave giesler | October 1, 2006 08:24 PM