Horse Fire IX

The Aqua (EOS PM) satellite, one of those carrying the MODIS imaging equipment, made a pass overhead just before 3 PM. Its view of our area was fairly oblique, as it passed way to the west of us…so the western flanks of the fire may have been invisible to it, as well as anything burning deep in Secret Canyon. It does show a broad area that’s very hot, near the western side of Lake Morena — the furthest part of the Horse Fire from our home…

The darned CDF information line is a bit like playing the slots. Most of the time you just get an old recording. If you’re lucky, you get a human, but they don’t really know very much. If you hit the jackpot — and I just did — you get a human who is well-informed. And even had a sense of humor!

From my jackpot CDF lady I got a good verbal report of the areas still burning (I’ve hand-shaded these purple on the map). The one of most concern to us is the western flank of the fire, and she described an area that jibes nicely with what the survey crew told us. It’s still not an immediate concern for us. She also told us where it’s burning in Secret Canyon; that’s the northernmost purple splotch. It’s also burning on the north and east sides of Lake Barrett — but the honor camp (for dishonorable people) is still safe. And finally, the major burn area is in Bobcat Meadows, just west of the northernmost part of Lake Morena — this jibes nicely with the MODIS data.

The eastern flank of the fire — out near Lake Morena — is still in a wilderness area, but getting closer to civilized areas. I hope they can stop it before it passes Lake Morena, headed east…