Colby Fire

With our drought in Southern California and high temps with Santa Ana winds, we woke this morning to the news of the Colby Fire in Glendora, about 11 miles west of Claremont. Obviously this fire is a great disaster for many reasons, but it also creates some amazing opportunities for photography. Unfortunately for me, whenever I was out and about and could see the smoke cloud or beautiful colors, I did not have a camera on me. Then, when I went looking for photos, my views were obscured either by buildings or the fact that it was just hazy.

Therefore, the photos in this post come courtesy of my friends. These two photos were taken by a firefighter who is married to one of my friends. He was at the fire early in the morning and managed to post them. I'm sure he will be very busy for a few days. Over a holiday weekend, no less.

This photo is from another friend of mine which looks like a photo I might have taken if I'd had my camera earlier today.

Fire Photos

Yesterday evening we walked along Foothill and looked through the fence at the fire damage to the Bernard Field Station. Here are a few pics.

The orange is the sunset, not a fire...

The sign at the gate is gone, but the trash can only melted a little.

Now you can easily see a house on Blaisdell. See how close the fire came to residential neighborhoods...

Bernard Field Station Fire

Life in Claremont was pretty exciting for a few hours yesterday afternoon. I was home in the afternoon, and around 4:00 or so, I heard a low-flying aircraft that made the house shake. That happens occasionally, and I always wonder if I should somehow avoid an airplane crashing into my house, but am never sure what the best course of action should be. Then I heard another plane, then a helicopter, and I knew that something was going on. I grabbed my camera and went outside and snapped these shots from my front porch. I was hoping that they weren't chasing some gunman who would run on my street.

It occurred to me that the best way to get immediate news of what was going on was to check Facebook, and, sure enough, I found out that crews were fighting a fire at the Bernard Field Station, just four blocks north of my house, and right across the street from Harvey Mudd. I made a comment on Facebook that I knew where to get immediate information (usually I head there when I feel an earthquake), and my friend asked me if I hadn't gotten the emergency call yet. I hadn't, but around 4:30,  the phone rang with the automated warning.

By that time, the fire was nearly contained, although the traffic was a mess on Foothill and Mills for quite a while, I've heard. In the end, 17 acres burned, 115 firefighters worked to save the Botanical Garden and all homes in the area. No one was hurt, no structures were damaged. The fire was sparked by a metal saw being used by Golden State Water doing work along Foothill. Here is the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin report. The Courier also had a good article, but it's probably behind a paywall. 

Friends posted some pretty scary-looking photos of huge smoke plumes and high flames, but apparently the wind was blowing them away from my house, and I did not smell or see smoke.