Ashes, ashes all fall down

Well, we have as good as a front row seat to this fire, the Esperanza fire they call it. I don't care to get any closer. According to the news reports, it started less than ten miles from our house. Poppet Flats is about seven miles NE as the crow flies.

We woke up to the strong smell of a brush fire. It seemed strangely overcast--kind of an eerie yellow light. Da listens to the radio every morning and it had already burned some 8oo acres in five hours. We went on with our normal routines. Da had a doctor's appointment in Riverside so we drove in. Now it is at 1000 acres. It was weird to drive into cleaner air. It usually is much clearer here at home than down in Riverside, smogwise. They had blue skies and sunshine. A very nice day, really. Driving back home it was ominous looking. The "overcast" was almost a chocolate color, kind of like milky hot cocoa. The ventilation system in our car worked so well it was a surprise to get out of the car in our garage and breathe that stuff. We had no idea it had gotten that strong. Now 8000 acres were burnt. We had asked Chuggy to keep us updated as to the danger to our area when we left. No news was good news.


Looking directly east of us, Mount San Jacinto had disappeared into the smoke. Now 10,000 acres.


In the daylight we couldn't see much because of the smoke. As the sun went down and it got dark we could see where the fires were blazing. A deep orange glow behind our hills made it seem like the sun had set directly to the north of us. Only this "sunset" didn't grow dimmer. And it wasn't just in one spot. If you imagine north to be twelve o'clock, the "sunset" covered the swath from ten o'clock to one o'clock. When we drove to the end of our street on the way to meeting we could see the actual flames in the distance. Just the short time out at meeting was enough to make us get scratchy throats.

All day yesterday and today a very light snow seemed to be falling. It was the ashes. They just drifted down ever so lightly and seemed to disappear. Everything got a little gritty feeling. I found some caught in a spider web.
It was so strange to be hearing of the fierce winds that were fanning these flames as we had a very calm day. No wind at all, not even a breeze. That was a good thing, too. Later in the evening, on the news, I learned that in the beginning of this fire, Hemet had been threatened. Guess who lives on the northeast edge of Hemet? There is only wilderness and the Soboba Indian reservation between us and the conflagration. Over 24,000 acres burned now. This thing has really moved.

It is dark again and I just went out to check on the progress of these flames. I thought the wind had driven it to the west, and it had. But there is a flareup NE of us, in the direction of Poppet Flats, near the source of the fire--and closer, too. Our hills are not supposed to be this color. It is scary. And much too close for me.

Now 39,900 acres.

At least there doesn't seem to be any wind here yet.