The Station Fire

I imagine most of you have heard of the Station Fire by now. It was in the national news quite a bit a week or so ago. This is by far the closest a forest fire has ever come to our home, although we were well out of danger. Several of our friends had to evacuate their homes though, and our next door neighbor, a firefighter, was gone for days at a time, fighting the fire up in the foothills above Pasadena and beyond.

Here's a picture of Sean (our neighbor) on the day the fire started. He is the one standing in the front, on the right:

While we were safe from the flames, we did struggle a lot with the smoke produced by this fire. For over a week we were told to stay indoors with our air conditioner on (and as it was 100+ degrees almost every day, we were more than happy to comply). Unfortunately, our ac unit is old and probably clogged with all the dust that is constantly blowing about here in our desert environment. Because of this, on several mornings we woke with burning throats and eyes to an apartment that smelled exactly like a campfire. Trying to seal up and recirculate air in an apartment that is already clogged with smoke is obviously pointless, so on these days we would pack a quick bag and try to drive somewhere out of the area. On Sunday, August 30th, we ended up down in Long Beach for an impromptu family day at the beach. We spent that evening and most of the next day at a friend's house in the nearby town of Sierra Madre. Eventually, the air improved and we could go back to spending the days in our apartment. Although we got quite stir-crazy after awhile, we were thankful that the fire didn't do as much damage to the community as it easily could have and grateful for shelter and air conditioning that at least kept us cool, even if it didn't keep the smoke out.

The Station Fire is still not completely contained although it is far enough away and under control now that our daily activities are no longer affected. The air quality is no longer in the unhealthy range, although it seems like it will hover around "moderate" for a long time yet. Unfortunately, we are really only at the beginning of fire season. Here's hoping that this fire, the largest in the history of Los Angeles County, and the 10th largest in the State, will be by far the worst we see this year.

Here are some pictures that I took with my new camera of the smoke, as well as our trip to the beach:

Believe it or not, there are mountains on the other side of those trees - they are just completely covered in smoke:

Things were looking much better at Sunset Beach:

Taking in the view:

Peter takes Eden to experience the surf:

Here it comes! Pete's head is missing in this photo because I was trying to take it while also jumping up out of the water myself. Have to protect the new camera!

Hmm. Not a fan.

Notice how she keeps a death grip on Pete from this point onward:

Or just flat out tries to climb up in his lap:

"Fine. You won't pick me up? I'm going to Mom."

A nice woman took this photo of us:

Our sweet girl:

We head home toward the smoke:

These big plumes could come and go in a matter of minutes. Sometimes they would fill the sky. At least we could see the mountains again:

Above our apartment:

Later that evening:

Lastly, here's a video that Peter took of Eden at the beach. She finally got the guts up to walk on the sand (well away from the water):