Tag: fire

Friends,

The fire is 100% contained and everybody in my little burg is relieved to say the least. We had phenomenal air support during the battle to knock the thing down, including the celebrated DC-10 supertanker. No pictures of the monster, but here’s one from Saturday that I thought turned out well.

The men who lost their lives fighting that fire were from here though, so it’s fair to say that the normally light mood here is abnormally somber. “Getting back to normal” mode doesn’t come easy for my neighbors and their efforts, like the carnival held this evening, appeared a little forced. I entirely get it having feared for my own house but for the folks who knew the chief and his crew, it’s still tough.

What this town does though is get together and make something else of the loss. Every event that was to be held to benefit something else, from the play at the school to the concert down the way to the Halloween Carnival itself are now fundraisers for the families left behind. They don’t have to do these things, but they do. And that’s yet another reason why I live here.

Your pal,

– bob

Yeah, I said it.

You may have heard of a little conflagration in my neighborhood. Don’t take my word for it, ask Chief John Hawkins:

“This was a deliberately set arson fire,” John Hawkins, chief of the Riverside County Fire Department, said in a televised press briefing. “And a deliberately set arson fire in which someone is killed constitutes murder.”

I’ve gotta tell you that the local media coverage stinks to high heaven. The article via the AP from the San Jose Mercury News is tons better than, say, the freakin’ Riverside paper (except for the lack of photography). Hell, all of the local coverage has stunk it up in a big way. My folks are getting their news about this huge local event from CNN. My friends have been watching Fox News, Los Angeles stations, and for all I know the Toronto Daily News.

How’d I hear about it? Oh, my sister called to ask if I was okay. “Um, sure,” I replied. “Why do you ask?” She mentioned something about fire so I took a look at the mountain from the side lot at work. Yeah, holy crap.


I asked the boss if I could leave and promptly did. Here’s a shot from La Quinta on Highway 111 (only 555 away from being the devil’s highway, by the way).

What I discovered once I’d arrived back at The Lodge was that the fire had taken westerly turn, saving my little burg. The smoke is pretty heavy here, but I’ll take it.

That was awfully close.

Your pal,

– bob