31 Oct 2019

As most of you may know we had a little "event" here yesterday, otherwise known as the Easy Fire.  Most famous for its encroachment upon the Reagan Library, there were several of us "less important" folks that the fire threatened as well.  For Donna and I the event started when our neighbor persistently rang our doorbell at 6:45 AM or so Wednesday (30 Oct) morning - I remember thinking "my phone doesn't have a doorbell notification, and it should be off until 8 ..."  I finally came out of the haze to realize someone was at our door.  Anyway, she and her husband were driving to work and got up close and personal with the very beginning of what was to become the Easy Fire.  She thankfully alerted some of the neighbors by telling us she thought it was coming our way - she was right!  Thank you Sheila!  Donna and I got up and went to our "red folder" which outlines 5 minute, 30 minute, 1 hour and so on evacuation plans (like, what stuff do we grab/pack given the time we have).  While we loaded up the airborne attack on the fire commenced.  At one time I counted 10 helicopters and 4 airplanes attacking the fire simultaneously. The fire came to within 1/2 mile of our house - the closest yet - and Donna and I actually executed our evacuation plan.  We were not part of the "mandatory" evacuation, I think only because the wind (up to 60+ mph gusts) pushed the fire just west of us, but we thought it prudent to be prepared.  Here are some pix...

The distance from Madera Road to our house is 1/2 mile, as the helicopter flies...

The mandatory evacuation area is shown here...

I took all of these pictures from in front of our house, in no particular order...

Didn't appear to be much of a fire at first...

... then it did.  Look closely, you can see the flame front moving down the hill towards Madera.  If the fire jumped Madera it would have been right in our neighborhood.

... more flames...

After the helicopter and water bomber attacks, the real work begins with the ground crews snuffing the hot spots...

Speaking of helicopters, here are some pix at what they threw at this fire, I was impressed...

This is a Sikorsky S-64 - developed as a CH-54 by the Army for Vietnam.  There are less than 50 of them flying, mostly used for fire fighting and logging.  They are no longer supported by Sikorsky or the Army, I think Erickson Air-Crane takes care of all of the support...

A Los Angeles Fire S-70, the civilianized version of the US Army-developed UH-60 Blackhawk with lessons-learned from Vietnam... 

A Bell AH-1, developed by the Army for Vietnam, used by Cal Fire for over-head command and control...

It's hard (for me) to tell, but I think this is a Bell 212 - a civilianized and enhanced version of the US Army developed UH-1, better know as a Huey...

I know this is a re-purposed Huey...  You might have noticed a trend here...

A Beechcraft King-Air used by Cal Fire for overhead command and control.  No, the Army did not develop the King Air, but they did, at one time (and maybe still do), own more King Airs, called R/C-12s in the Army,  than any other user (mostly for executive transport and radio intercept missions). 

Took this by accident, but thought it looked too cool to leave out...

This is Madera Road at about 5:30 last night (30 Oct) ... closed at the time

Well, that's it.

Watching the firefighters, airborne and on the ground, one can't help but be simultaneously thankful and humbled.  The Taylor Library is back to business as usual, for now...