The news is all good this evening as our sun sets. The top photo is a capture of the north-facing camera on top of Lyons Peak. You can see smoke in the air, to be sure – but not a plume or a burn anywhere in sight. Very comforting for this inhabitant of Lawson Valley! The air seems to be a bit clearer tonight, both here in Chula Vista and out in Lawson Valley. A few minutes ago I was out walking our dogs, and a flight of four (I think) Sea Stallion helicopters – huge, heavy-lifting military helicopters – flew by a mile or so away, clearly visible through the smoky haze. It looked like they were returning to the Coronado Naval Air Station from the direction of the Harris Fire. The sight of them was immensely cheering…
The view to the east is in the second photo down. The big flareup evident earlier in the day is completely gone. The air is much clearer in that direction than it was just a couple of hours ago. The smaller flareup right near Lyons Peak is also gone. Deerhorn Valley (the lower right quadrant of this photo) is completely free of plumes. A lovely sight, that is.A couple of hours ago I called 211 to find out if Lawson Valley was ready for “repopulation” (the term many local officials are using to describe letting people go back home – seems like a strange and perhaps ill-advised turn of phrase). A very polite, sympathetic, and well-connected young lady sadly informed me that not only was Lawson Valley not ready for repopulation, it had just come under mandatory evacuation order this very morning, and law enforcement was having trouble getting everyone out of there. Knowing some of my neighbors, this is very easy to believe.
The third photo down is the view south from Lyons Peak. In the lower left is the other half of Deerhorn Valley, with no plumes from hot spots there, either. For the first time in several days, we can see Otay Mountain and Tecate Peak. Plenty of hanging smoke is in evidence, but so far as I can tell, none of it is from current burns. Until last night, all the smoke from the fires has been blown by the Santa Ana winds coming out of the northeast at an average of 25 or 30 miles per hour. The smoke plume extended for hundreds of miles out to sea. Now that the winds have turned around into their normal pattern of onshore winds, all that smoke out over the ocean is blowing back toward land. Some of it is coming right back to us, some to the north and south of us. I'm sure this “blow-back” is a major part of the haze visible here.
Finally, the bottom photo is the west-looking camera, looking over Jamul toward Chula Vista. If you didn't know that was smoke and that we'd had these horrid fires, the scene is almost romantic – like something from the Smoky Mountains back east. But all that smoke used to be trees, chaparral, and homes…After the Cedar Fire, when immediate threat to human life was over, we (San Diegans, I mean) started assessing the damage to our environment and our wildlife. That was four years ago, and we've learned much watching the flora and fauna start its recovery. Some things have surprised us positively, such as the oak trees that we thought were dead and gone – they've sprouted from deep within their branches. They're survivors. Other things are going to take much longer, especially the large conifers like the beautiful Ponderosa pines of our higher mountains. The wildlife has only just begun to return; we've seen only a few deer up in Cuyamaca, and I've read that the mountain lion population is still a tiny fraction of what it used to be. This year's fires have burned even more territory. Even worse, I suspect, is that much of the remaining unburned area has gone up – not all of it, mind you, but a good fraction of it. Or to say the same thing in a different way: San Diego County's backcountry will look much different in the next decade or two than it has since I moved here in 1974. I'll miss it, especially the large conifer forests. I got to having these sad thoughts today as I looked at the map of the fire burning on Palomar Mountain, where the best stands of Ponderosa I know were. If the satellite imagery is accurate, most of those pines are now charcoal…
I am living at Steele Canyon High School for the week, though normally within a mile of you. The news was bleak this morning as things were headed our way. But I recently talked to a fireman that had been in our area today. He appreciated the fact that the Trading Post is open and he bought a coke there. They are drawing the line there and at Four Corners. The map of what has burned is posted here and they are handing out address lists of homes damaged or destroyed, though not complete yet. Found animals are being posted as well. They think we will be here for a few more days. I hope not, but the news is good tonight.
ReplyDelete