While firefighters continue to target hotspots in the Station Fire, I thought it might be interesting to revisit a small brush fire area I've photographed before to check in on the progress of regrowth. I took this photo on August 13th before the Station Fire began. Though this area (viewed across Las Flores Canyon from the Sam Merrill Trail) was unscathed in the recent fires, it remains closed to hikers.This small area burned almost exactly two years ago in August of 2007. The fire was very quickly put out by our local firefighting heroes. Click on my March, 2008 post to see how the burn area looked this past February, then again a month later, after some rain.
In today's photo you can see much more growth. I don't know if the burnished brown scrub is dried from lack of water, or if that's the color of the healthy plant. Maybe one of you can tell us.
One of the hotspots the firefighters have been working on the last couple of days is almost directly north of this area. John and I met some of the guys as they came off the mountain Wednesday night. They were tired and dirty and gorgeous and sweet. I'm saving those pictures to post Tuesday, 9/22. That's when they said they'd be coming to the end of their deployment and have a chance to check the web.
I know we can never thank them enough, but if you get the chance, give it a try. They like it.
9 comments:
Good, P! Stay on top of this. Keep up the updates on the upcoming changes.
Beautiful shot !! I would love to visit this place someday !!Unseen Rajasthan
Ciao Petra, bella foto. You're right, ever enough to thank.
Looking forward to those pics. Dear brave firefighters, thank you ever so much.
LL
My mountain! I miss it so.
What is the flat surface we see?
Thanks, everyone. It's a special place. It's my mountain, too, I share it with Karin and I miss it a lot.
The flat surface is a water containment station (catch basin? - I don't know the proper term) for the Las Flores Water Company of Altadena. I have some close-ups of it. Maybe I'll post those over the weekend if you'd like to see them.
This is encouraging! Let's hope we get some long spells of the right kind of rain this winter so our green-remembered hills can make a comeback.
For the stout of heart, there's a video of the Angeles Crest Highway after the fire at http://www.wildfiretoday.com/news/2009/9/18/ash-happens.html
Bellis, that video is stunning. It's painful to see the hills bare for miles and miles like that. They'll renew themselves. I think in a way I'm selfish because I want them to be green and beautiful for me. But there's a stark beauty out there now. I really, really want to get up there and see it for myself.
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