Fire in the Hills – Hope it doesn’t Spread Downhill

Yesterday I was watering the small hill in our back yard. I heard a big roar and looked up to see a huge water tanker flying toward Lake Elsinore. This is one of the many fire airplanes that the State has to fight forest fires.

It was flying very low so I knew there must have been a fire nearby. I saw a few helicopters too flying over there near the lake which is less than a mile away. Something was going on and my guess was a fire.

I continued watering and soon went inside. The TV was blasting so I couldn’t hear what was going on outside. I couldn’t tell if more planes came by. I stepped outside a half hour later hoping I could hear the double sonic boom from the space shuttle as it was on it’s way to Edwards Air Force base some 90 or 100 miles from here. Nothing could be heard.

It got dark about an hour later and my wife had to go to the store. She was gone a few minutes and when she returned she said come out here and see all the lights in the hills. We are surrounded by hills on three sides of us with two of the hills only a block away. Looking off to the right I could see a faint glow.

The hills near us were on fire, but probably just simmering by now. Apparently the big plane had dropped fire repellent on it along with the helicopters and had gotten the fire under control. That was the reason there were at least a dozen large vehicles coming down the tiny narrow winding dirt road along the side of the closest hill. They were probably fire trucks.

We were lucky. Had there been any winds (there weren’t any) it would have fanned the flames to the adjacent hills and all around us would have been on fire. It could have been a full scale forest fire. Although there aren’t many trees in the hills there is plenty of dry bush and the fire would have spread like a wildfire. Fire in the hills is always a potential problem here at my location next to the hills. That’s because almost all the year there is no or very little rain so everything is so dry.

Count that up as good luck for us. I think there were no homes or buildings where the fire was, but am not sure. It appeared to be near Hwy 74 which goes from Lake Elsinore to San Juan Capistrano. The famous Swallow hangout.

Charles