Rude awakening
At about 4:30 this morning I was woken up by a bright light across the valley. (the bedroom has a big picture window facing the view). It was a wildfire. In the dark I couldn’t tell which ridge it was on- the near one or one farther away. I watched the flames for a bit then woke Laura up so she could see. We got up, turned on the scanner to hear the radio traffic and checked the various fire sites on the internets. It turns out that it’s on a ridge farther away, so it’s not an immediate worry unless it gets really bad.
I’m suprised though- I thought that after the big rainstorm we had a couple weeks ago, where we got 10 inches of rain in less than a day (and lost power for 3.5 days), the fire season would be over. But today it’s warm and the air is dry (humidity 20%) and the winds are strong (the fire fighters keep having to ground their aircraft because of them). That makes for good fire conditions….good for the fire that is.
First call was at 2:38am, now at noon on the radio (CDF) they’re estimating 500 acres. So far a couple outbuildings and a trailer have been burnt. Hopefully everyone stays safe.
Fire pics from someone who lives much closer: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dandawson/sets/72157622659477116/