Fire Season Redux

Yesterday we were at home working. Andrew was preparing windows for installation, and I was in my office on the computer. It was a hot day, with a mild breeze from the ocean.

Unexpectedly the power shut off after lunchtime, but almost as quickly it came back on. I got a feeling something strange was going on.

We kept working, and about 15 minutes later heard a siren. Andrew asked me to check the fire dispatch log. There was a report of a wildfire in Bonny Doon. The log said there were downed power lines up the hill from us, at Martin Rd. and Alta Vista, and there was another report listing a fire nearby at Pine Flat and Atherly Lane.

Andrew donned his boots, and asked me to get my office ready to transport if it became necessary to evacuate.

It was last June that we experienced the big Martin Fire, so it was unsettling to wonder if that was happening again.

Not wanting to pack, I kept checking the fire dispatch log and the SC Sentinel, and put out the call on Facebook to see if my neighbors were online. Soon a story came up on the Sentinel website about the fire. They said it was about 1/4 acre, with a structure involved, and spreading slowly. We could not see any smoke.

At about that time, we were starting to hear activity in the air. A big fixed-wing aircraft flew low over our house, and then a helicopter with a bucket circled overhead. I was really wishing our ponds were bigger.

Andrew made contact with our closest neighbor, whose loosely-organized fire brigade we have recently joined.

As we listened to the buzzing in the sky, and watched the helicopters circling over our neighborhood, I kept checking the web. Before long someone commented on the Sentinel story that KSCO was reporting containment of the fire.

The helicopters were flying around for about an hour. Then it quieted down, and it became obvious the fire really had been contained.
Sweet relief!

The fire last summer is a memory none of us want to relive, but due to our location (which we love), on a rural, forested mountain on the coast of California, we are becoming accustomed to it.

Today is nice and foggy. That's better. Thanks.