[Leica] IMG: Ira's PAW - Week 10

[ISILVERMN at aol.com (ISILVERMN@aol.com)]

On Fri, 16 Mar 2007 08:09:35 -0400, Ric Carter <_ricc@mindspring.com_ 
(mailto:ricc@mindspring.com) > wrote:
            "The  advancing smoke is very eerie."
 
Eerie is a good choice of words, Ric, and what I was trying to convey,  
being 
as far from the fire as we were.  This fire eventually engulfed 2000  acres, 
and took three days to knock down.  Fortunately, nobody was killed,  and 
only 
two outbuildings (no homes)were destroyed.  Like many California  wildfires, 
this one was arson. The bast***d torched a stolen car in a wooded  canyon.  
He 
has not yet been apprehended.
 
Fires IMHO are the most frightening disasters that come with living in  
Southern California.  Earthquakes happen, they're inevitable and they're  
over in 
minutes.  Wildfires can last weeks, are often without limits, and  to a 
large 
degree can be avoided.
 
The 1993 Laguna Hills Fire burned 17,000 acres from the 405 Freeway to the  
coast, and destroyed several communities, more than 350 homes, in the  
process. 
  The firebreak was established 75 feet from the back of our  development, 
and we were given 20 minutes to evacuate with a police  escort.  It's 
absolutely 
incredible what you can manage to stuff into 2  cars in twenty minutes.  We 
watched the fire well into the night from a  Middle School 2 miles away.  It 
was as helpless as I've ever felt.   Fortunately the firebreak held.  This, 
too, 
was an arson fire, and the  culprit was never caught.
 
Best regards,
 
Ira
(in Orange County, where the Four Seasons are Fire, Earthquake,  Flood and 
Drought).
 
 
 
 
 
 



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