By now if you haven't heard...

Dry Mountain, originally uploaded by foodchronicles.

Southern Cal is under a firestorm, you've been under a rock! The mountain pictured above is an example of the type of fuel we've grown in SoCal for two years without rain. It is ripe for a spark. This mountain separates us from Banning/Beaumont and the road that leads up it was closed for three days because of high winds and no visibility.

Yet, our valley is a little hamlet of no fire in the midst of the storm. We did suffer some damage in the valley from the Santa Anas on Sunday night. Monday, I drove around and found trees felled everywhere. (still looking for the four feet of dirt and soot some have alluded to) Here are some of the pictures:











My first memory of a Santa Ana wind was when I was about six or seven. The entire back fence of our yard blew down during one such storm. This fence was found in the same condition Monday.



Then there was the smoke. The first pic is from yesterday afternoon as the fires in Southern Temecula, Rainbow areas continued to burn. These fires are a good 40 miles from us yet loom ominously overhead reminding all of us it is only a heartbeat away.

This morning:

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Just a little heat

We went for a drive a couple of weeks ago. We decided to see the effects of the Esparanza fire had on the property we almost bought about 6 years ago. The drive took us along the path of the fire. It stretched for miles and miles. I am amazed at how much acreage the fire covered in such a short time period. We finally came upon the street where the land was located. It had been consumed. Not just consumed but burnt to a crisp. There was one home completely lost and a few others that had been in direct harms way. If we had built a home there it would have gone in the fire as the land was completely burned. This is a picture of our would be next door neighbors' home:
The fence was melted. It was one of those beautiful no maintenance fences made of vinyl. I wonder if the fence was sold with a disclaimer about fires? The fence illustrates the heat in the area and also gives you an idea of the rest of the area's destruction.

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