WildFire

An exceptional Santa Ana wind condition developed on Sunday, October 21st. The winds were high and the brush tinder dry. Our first inkling of the coming problems was seeing smoke on the hill south of us from the upstairs window. Then we could see flames. Glen and I both took a turn walking over to Peach Hill Park to get a better view.
The fire was burning near the Sweitzers' home on the hill just south of Tierra Rejada. Fortunately, their home was never in particular danger because of the direction of the wind. But homes were evacuated in the community on the other side of the hill.




This fire would be dubbed the NightSky Fire after the street near which it started. It was contained at just 35 acres.




The helicopters flew directly over our house going to and from the golf course to pick up water to drop on the flames. We could feel the backwash every time. They were flying very low.




The winds reached hurricane strength at times. The fire department reported recording 108 mph gusts. So we saw a number of downed branches like this one near the restrooms at Peach Hill Park.




We drove to Costco in Simi. We came back out to discover that we were now under the pall of smoke from a different fire. This is Cochran driving east.




We decided to hang out with McGreevys for a bit and watch some of the TV coverage at their house. The sun was mostly obscured by the smoke.




You could see the edge of the smoke looking east over Elephant Rock from the McGreevys' back yard.




The ash was collecting in the gutters.




Driving home along Tierra Rejada the sky seemed surreal. It's still afternoon, not evening.




Watching the TV coverage, fires had broken out in many different spots in Southern California. The reporters started in Malibu with a fire there and then reports came in of a fire near Castaic, another in Agua Dulce, and then more near San Diego, and later in Arrowhead. Hundreds of homes burned, 500,000+ people were evacuated, but only one person lost his life.

Attendence at our local school was way down on Monday, due to parental concerns about air quality and on Tuesday, the Moorpark Unified School District cancelled school.













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