Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Nothin' But Blue Skies

Yesterday was particularly clear in the Los Angeles basin. The views were endless. You could see for miles. It was nice while it lasted.

In the afternoon there was a brush fire in the hills just above the intersection of the 134 and the 2 freeways. It looked pretty bad on TV: bright red flames, close to homes. Smoke.

Climate change and three years of drought are a great combination if you're a fire. They say we could have a pretty bad fire season this year. Not that fire season any year is what you'd call good.

I was in Hollywood when I heard about the Glendale fire. My usual route home is via surface streets through Silverlake, then up the 2 freeway and east along the 134 through Eagle Rock and on into Pasadena. I checked my online source then headed home, listening to the KNX traffic reports.

In Silverlake, I saw two water-dropping helicopters lift off from the reservoir. Didn't have my camera ready but it was exciting to see! And lucky for me, the worst of the traffic was on the westbound 134. The 2 was fine, as was the eastbound 134.

I pulled off the freeway in Pasadena and took this shot, facing west on Mountain near Lincoln. A lot of smoke had come our way. Lucky for us, the threatened homes weren't Pasadena homes. Not this time. The sky will be clear again soon.

19 comments:

Virginia said...

IT must be hard living through the fires etc. I don't know how you all do it season after season. It seems like it happens a lot. Glad you all are safe and that's a great photo, P.
V

eamon@ewmphotography said...

Oh dear, hate hearing about these fires - especially ones started deliberately like those in Australia recently. So that is smoke on the horizon in the photo?

p.s. hopefully NEVER Pasadena

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

Bush fires are not pleasant to endure, I live closeby to The New Forest in the UK. When it's hot ( not all that often) the forest is ablaze with fire, as there are horses and livestock that roam freely there it is a nightmare for the ranger to round them up.
Enjoyed your post.

Yvonne.

J.J. in L.A. said...

This is a great shot...I'm glad the fire wasn't any worse!

Shell Sherree said...

The sun looks fierce. Knowing how terrible our bushfires can be {and as Eamon said, some deliberately lit - breaks your heart}, I feel for other places that are susceptible to them too, like LA. Let's do some rain dances.

Dina said...

Wishing you and your house safety, now and always.

Italo said...

Perfect photo, as usual for you, thank you. Summer fires, too dangerous, in Italy is a tragedy too.
PS: your description avout highways.... it was for me to watch at "The Chips" :) ciao Petrea.

Unknown said...

It's awful the damages of fires on people and nature! Gladly, this summer is not that bad around here, but I remember 2003 when our whole (small) country was burning!!!
Great light on this shot! And I love blue skies.
Stay safe!

Petrea Burchard said...

I guess some of the fires we have are natural; there's a cycle and the underbrush has to burn in order for certain plants to reseed. I did hear talk of suspected arson in yesterday's fire but I don't know what the upshot was.

The Glendale fire is under control now and no homes were lost. The firefighters were really on top of it. This one was not a tragedy like the Australia fires Eamon mentioned, or Italo or JM.

Thanks for coming by today, everyone, it's comforting!

Escapist said...

Got fire ! wrrrr its like yur terrified..

P.S:- Pasadena is safe.....



joliiiieesss:-)

from cali said...

If it isn't fire it's earthquakes or floods, but I can't imagine living in any other state.
This picture has painted a thousand words and brought back a bunch of memories! Hate those dreaded words "fire season" almost as much as "rattlesnake season." ;)

Margaret said...

I saw all the smoke too. It made me really sad to know that the first fire of summer had struck. Luckily, it was short lived.

Petrea Burchard said...

Seems like fire season never stopped. And don't get me started on rattlesnakes. We saw another one yesterday, and although it stopped to let us pass I think we're going to stay out of the Hahamongna 'til the weather cools off.

Amy said...

Whew, close. A friend of mine lives just a few blocks away from the fire...

So to see rattlesnakes, sounds like I need to go walking with you. I won't prod it, I promise!

Petrea Burchard said...

Any time, Amy!

Ms M said...

Yes, it's that time of year again in the West. We've already had several range fires here; one is still being contained.
One year when we were at the outdoor Shakespeare Festival, a fire erupted on a hill near the theater. The water-bearing helicopters flew back and forth over us while fighting the fire; the river, where they refilled the bambi buckets, was on the opposite side of the theater. Quite a memorable night of theater!

Unknown said...

Excuse me, but the Semantics Police would like to know. Which is it? Were the views endless? Or could you just see for miles?

Some day I hope we're going to figure out how to live with fires so that nature gets its due and we don't get smoked out.


oismant

Dina said...

Bambi buckets?? They call them bambi buckets?! Funny.

Petrea Burchard said...

I never heard "bambi buckets" before either, Dina. Cute name for something so serious.

Cliff, I think you're not so much the semantics police as the cliche police. I'm tempted to rewrite, but I'll leave it because I'm guilty, damn it. Officer, I'll go peaceably, as long as I can serve my time in writing class.