Fire Updates

The view of the fire the night before we left (5/7).

The sun through the smoke.

Our carport the day we left, covered in ash.

The hood of the car after being home for one night.

View of the fire from our home as we were leaving.

154 - the road we take to Lizard's Mouth, where DS climbs. Ash covers the hillside. Taken 5/13.

Scorched hillside on the way to Lizard's Mouth.

Taken from Lizard's Mouth, beyond the reach of the fire.

The fire is still burning the last time I checked the news this afternoon. Not that we can see it anymore. At this point it is 95% contained, and we're no longer under evacuation warning. DS and I drove up to Skofield Park today, because there are boulders there you can climb. This park is in Mission Canyon, which is where the fire started. It was awful. I was thoroughly surprised we could even go in the park, but it had been pretty well preserved. That didn't mean there weren't three fire vehicles inside the park though.

Driving through the ignition point area, you could really see the amazing job the firefighters have done. The entire hillside would be burned, right up to someone's front door, but the house was untouched. 80 homes have been destroyed, which sounds like such a huge number. But driving through that neighborhood, it is really clear that without those 4500 firefighters that were working around the clock, it would have been so many more.

We both forgot our cameras today, but since DS wants to go climbing in that park soon, I imagine I'll have some photos soon.