Category Archives: the land

$75 million.

While trying to put a couple of posts together for Grist, let me just give you a tiny taste of what it’s been like for the last couple of weeks. First, the evening sky a week ago. Second, the way the Sheriff’s Department lets everyone know we’ve officially been warned to evacuate. And third, anContinue reading “Life Under Smoke”

An efriend named Judith Lewis, an enviro reporter for the LAWeekly, has a good story out this week on the Day Fire. She too interviewed fire ecologist Richard Minnich, but had the advantage of interviewing him after the fire broke out. He made an important point, quoting a TV forecaster: "‘It’s better that it gotContinue reading “Fire as War in SoCal”

My report from the Ventura County Reporter. This was filed literally the morning the Day Fire broke out, so my timing couldn’t be beat, and, I’m proud to say, the story stands up to the reality of what ensued quite well. In an attempt to entice you to read it, I’m going to copy overContinue reading “Fire in Southern California: How Close Are We to the Edge?”

This morning we can sniff smoke in the air, and it’s going to be very hot today, but the atmospheric low off the coast has dissipated and the winds gone. The worst of the Day Fire may be over. Much credit goes to the Ventura County Fire Department, the "Hotshots" teams, the prison hand crews,Continue reading “A DC-10 Takes on the Day Fire”

With a nice pic and story from the Associated Press.

The Day Fire is now advancing slowly but surely towards our home in Upper Ojai on two fronts. From the north, over the Topa Topas (6600 feet high) and from the east, up Santa Paula canyon. The eastern firefront is much more likely to cause us harm, because it’s more likely to be driven byContinue reading “Day Fire Burns On”

Val on a Sierra beach. Hard to believe this was just a week ago. Especially since we are facing yet  another evacuation threat, here in Upper Ojai…nearly three weeks after the Day fire started. Gather ye beauties while ye may…

The perimeter map posted on the useful-if-slow InciWeb site, which tracks big wildfires across the country. We are closest to the little nub of fire to the southwest. It’s about ten miles away and the Santa Ana winds, as forecast, are blowing, although relatively mildly at this point. We have been given a preliminary evacuationContinue reading “Day Fire, Day Twenty-One”

While on a brief vacation last weekend in the Sierras, the aforementioned Day Fire came charging southwest towards our neck of the woods in Upper Ojai, forcing our daughter to evacuate. Never a dull moment in Southern California! While I’m trying to put the office back together, and hoping the Santa Ana winds don’t bringContinue reading “The Peace of the Mountains”