Fire Incident
Every summer with the threat of grasshoppers and deer comes the much larger but more remote threat of grass fires. We are surrounded on all sides by thousands of acres of grassland. And although these fires burn low and with not a lot of heat load, they can move incredibly fast if the wind is helping. Last week there was a grass fire about 1 1/2 miles from our place. That may sound far but out here, that is WAY too close for comfort. I noticed the fire around 12pm. It started with a small plume of greyish/pinkish/ brown smoke. Structure fires are black. Anyway, I called our neighbors who live higher up on a hill to see what they saw. They said they could see it too but not how close it was. But it looked close. We all got into our trucks and went to check it out.
Turns out it was on Paskenta Road and traveling northwest which is where we live. If the CDF had not contained the fire as quickly as they did, it could have easily spread to our place. The wind was not too bad that day. Even so, the fire burned 200 acres. I was really impressed with how fast CDF got a fire break down and had planes and helicopters working. They had houses on two sides of the fire to protect. I am so thankful for CDF and don't begrudge them their yearly fees. I am not going to cut down the trees around my house, but really decided we need a better fire break. I saw what stopped that fire. It was a break of about five feet of dirt. We did cut a small fire break this year but not as outstanding as last year. The guy who did it last year was too busy. It also helped that there were no trees for the fire to feed on. That is why fires in the mountains are so explosive, all that fuel. But green trees are not as flammable as dead or dying trees and loose light leaf litter. Also trees with pitch like firs and pines are incredibly ignitable. Succulents offer the best slow burn for firescaping.
Another layer to the drama of that day was that the power had gone out. We think this was related to how the fire got started. Anyway unbeknownst to me Stephen had turned off our transformer. So when I turned our system to solar, it only ran light electric stuff, not the all important well pump. I was setting up sprinklers all around the east side of the house when all the water stopped, I had emptied the tanks. That is when I started to freak. I had no way of fighting this fire if it came closer. I had been adamant that if the power failed I wanted the solar to be able to run the well pump. And it would have if I had known to turn the transformer back on. That was a terrible day. But I learned some very important things: Fire breaks need only be 5 feet of dirt in an emergency, transformers must be on for well pump to work and at the end of the day we have no control over what happens. We just have to do our best and move forward. :)
Turns out it was on Paskenta Road and traveling northwest which is where we live. If the CDF had not contained the fire as quickly as they did, it could have easily spread to our place. The wind was not too bad that day. Even so, the fire burned 200 acres. I was really impressed with how fast CDF got a fire break down and had planes and helicopters working. They had houses on two sides of the fire to protect. I am so thankful for CDF and don't begrudge them their yearly fees. I am not going to cut down the trees around my house, but really decided we need a better fire break. I saw what stopped that fire. It was a break of about five feet of dirt. We did cut a small fire break this year but not as outstanding as last year. The guy who did it last year was too busy. It also helped that there were no trees for the fire to feed on. That is why fires in the mountains are so explosive, all that fuel. But green trees are not as flammable as dead or dying trees and loose light leaf litter. Also trees with pitch like firs and pines are incredibly ignitable. Succulents offer the best slow burn for firescaping.
Another layer to the drama of that day was that the power had gone out. We think this was related to how the fire got started. Anyway unbeknownst to me Stephen had turned off our transformer. So when I turned our system to solar, it only ran light electric stuff, not the all important well pump. I was setting up sprinklers all around the east side of the house when all the water stopped, I had emptied the tanks. That is when I started to freak. I had no way of fighting this fire if it came closer. I had been adamant that if the power failed I wanted the solar to be able to run the well pump. And it would have if I had known to turn the transformer back on. That was a terrible day. But I learned some very important things: Fire breaks need only be 5 feet of dirt in an emergency, transformers must be on for well pump to work and at the end of the day we have no control over what happens. We just have to do our best and move forward. :)
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