Some Things Hit Way Too Close To Home

I realize that this post is a tad bit late and after the fact, but what the heck! So you had to have been living under a rock to not have known about the Station Fire that started in La Canada and graced us with its presence in La Crescenta. I believe it is still burning to this date, but it has been completely surrounded by fire lines and has long since moved away from homes, thank goodness! I had the misfortune and the blessing of having the fire come quite close to where I live and having mandatory evacuations placed on my street. I think it's obvious why it was a misfortune, but I also see it as a blessing because it was a huge opportunity to get great pictures. Once the evacuation orders had been given, the intersections leading up to my neighborhood had been blocked off leaving the streets completely empty of traffic other than police and fire vehicles. My family and I decided not to evacuate, as did many other families, which I soon realized was a huge advantage for myself to get great pictures. Only those who lived above the police barricades and didn't evacuate could walk the streets that were closest to the fire lines. In the end I was able to get closer to the fire than most people... if only I had a press pass, though. THEN I could've gotten some insane shots, but oh well. The first picture with all of the glowing dots is taken from a street about 4 blocks up from my house. That hill that you see in the picture is at most only 100 yards from the houses... pretty dang close! What you see are the embers still glowing a day after the fire had been extinguished.

Today, the smoke can still be smelled and ash continues to rain down on La Crescenta. We are now worrying about the rain that is soon to come. Mud slides, anyone?! It will be an interesting development in the story of the Station Fire, but I'm sure everything will be fine in the end.