The Day After the Brush Fire

After a light rain of .11 inches during the night and early morning, there were still plenty of smoldering hot spots in our back yard from the controlled burn.

Photo taken from the back porch this morning - this same view shows up in the night time photos with a serpentine of fire following the line of the swale that ends in the rock lining you can see in the lower center of the photo.

View of our steps to the logging road.  We saw this being cleared in the night time photos.

A view up the slope showing the clear line of the burn and the areas that were protected by the water.

This is the fire break the B.R.I.D.G.E. team cleared as it cuts from our property line up across in back of the neighbor's house.  The path is about three feet wide.  We watched the Fire Service ignite the area to the left with drip torches last night just after midnight.

Another view of the line of burned/cleared and leaf debris up the slope from the last photo.

In the foreground of the next picture is the clean cut of a sapling that was sacrificed for the cause.  The small tree on the other side of the path was only trimmed and could come back. The slope is every bit as dramatic as it looks - it was muddy and difficult going after the rain.

This photo shows a large rock outcropping on our neighbor's property that was used as natural fire break.  The cut line is visible on the right.

Unlike our house, they did not burn close to the neighbors' houses - our next door neighbors' blue siding is barely visible through the trees left of center.  Nothing exciting going on here - but it shows the contrast between their property and ours.

Some trees show no damage.  In this photo is a singed old oak the loggers left when they cleared the slope decades ago.

The only evidence that might indicate tragedy in the animal kingdom Cheryl noted was this toasted snail shell. In contrast, she was surprised to see a healthy-looking squirrel coming down the steps earlier today just like any other day.

A smoldering log continues to contribute to our smoke-filled air.

This next photo clearly shows a very dead and decaying tree  - the fire was not hot enough to ignite the rotting wood.

 We knew there was a lot of rock on our property, but we've never been able to see much of it before this.

A nice pocket of unburned leaves surrounds a tree far from the house.

In this photo, Cheryl is looking down on the old logging road crossing the photo from the lower middle/left to the upper right. The logging road here, compared to other places, slopes rather dramatically up and did not break the fire.

Notice the beautiful leaves of the American Beech mid-ground.  The cul-de-sac is in the background on the right.

 Up close to a smoldering stump. Watching it from the house, this one periodically belched smoke or lept back into flame until early afternoon.

This is the view back along the gully that leads to the back porch of our house.

The Fire Service came back and used our back yard and steps to get to the scene for mop-up operations. On the steps is our Reems Creek neighbor Chris who is now a Fire Service employee.  Far behind him to the right is the B.R.I.D.G.E. team.

Cheryl greeted them, "Nice to see you today!"  Most of these young men did not bother with the steps.

At this time, most of the hot spots have stopped smoldering, thanks in part to the rain.  The neighborhood and the inside of our house still reek of smoke.  We hope in a few weeks the smell will be gone and new greenery will be visible.

The official measured size of the fire was 98.5 acres.