Fire Burns in the Foothills

In September and October the fire danger here in the Sierra Foothills is very high. The brush and low lying weeds are very, very dry, and it is in these months that we tend to get wind during the day. Both of which make these two months the most dangerous for fires.

Yesterday, my husband and I were sharing our evening cocktails on our front porch. No wind was blowing and the sun was on its way to setting. I commented to my husband that the colors seemed to have dimmed a bit and looked a bit warmer for so early in the evening. This is when the phone rang.

It was one of our neighbors down the road calling because from their windows they were looking at a huge column of black smoke. They indicated that it looked like it was coming from somewhere close to us. They had seen the fire trucks roll out with sirens going. We did not see it from where we were, and I called another neighbor to look out their window to see if it looked like it was coming from across the canyon. From her vantage point it was to the west. I looked to the weather vane, and walked out into the driveway and there it was, coming from behind us. The sun shining through the smoke was what muted the colors. Another neighbor called, because that is what we do here in the foothills. She could see it too.

I volunteered to go and see where this was coming from, so I got in the car and headed out. From the end of the runway of our airport, I could see the smoke rising to the west. So I headed off in that direction. From one point in the road, I could see that it was a couple of miles away. Turning around and heading back home, I ran into one of our volunteer fire fighters heading to the station to get in her gear. She was not sure where the fire was for certain but mentioned Garden Valley, which is quite a ways away.

Returning home, I got on the phone and relayed the information to all of my neighbors. Another set of neighbors “fired” up their scanner and heard that it was actually right down the road. Three miles away as the crow flies. The trucks from a couple of departments were there, and bulldozers were being asked to come in. It was a structure fire located at Mule Skinner Road.

I headed outside with the camera and here are some of the photos that I took from my back deck.

Smoke rising from the west

Another view

There was very little wind, which is a good thing for the fire fighters. From only three miles away the next thing we noticed was the ash coming down.

Ash on the deck

A burnt oak leaf

Burnt pine needles

The ash was everywhere.

Ash on the BBQ

It resembled a very light snow coming down.

We are thankful to our fire department, which is made up of mostly volunteers. They were aggressive in fighting this fire, and here are later shots before the sun set. It was clear that they had gotten this under control quickly.

The smoke dwindles

One last shot

Please be careful, no matter where you are as fires can be very devastating. And thank you to Station 75 and the other stations that contained this fire so quickly!
**Footnote:  I just found out from a gal who works for the fire department that this fire started from a car driving on the road with a flat tire.  They were driving on the rim and it sparked and caused this fire.  Several acres burned, but they hit this fire hard yesterday and today it is fully contained!