Rex Trulove
This is yet more of a northerly view. This shows how much of this side of the hill was destroyed by fire. Again, none of the white patches would have been visible last year. The only part that would have been seen is the sheer cliff in the middle right of this image. The rest of the hillside was even denser than the stand of trees that can be seen just over the railroad tracks. The fire reached the top of the hills, less than a half mile away and 2,500 feet above where this picture was taken. Meanwhile, the fire was also burning on the other side of these hills.
This is especially sad because the federal government regulations make it easier for fires to start and harder to put them out.
That is very true. A lot of these regulations are now being scaled back, but that takes so much time. It takes much less time and money to maintain a functioning system than it does to repair it once it breaks down due to neglect. The forests have been mismanaged about 1990.
That last sentence should read, “The forests have been mismanaged SINCE about 1990.”
Fire damages are really bad news.
Yes. The area is also a lot bigger than it looks. Each of the trees that are still standing on the hill in the picture is about 50 or 60 feet tall.
Talk about the severe damage that the fire did to the trees.
Amazing the damage a fire leaves behind. Tragic for sure.
That represents a huge loss to wildlife, too. Yes, it is tragic. Sadly, many people have some really strange notions about forest fires.
Breaks my heart to think about the wildlife. And so many times these fires are intentionally set.
If there is a good thing about last year’s fires, that is it; of all the fires that ended up burning 9 million acres, none of them were intentionally set, only a couple were man-caused (carelessness), and the rest were caused by lightning. All three of the major fires we’ve had in the last three years locally were lightning caused, too.
Amazing the damage a fire leaves behind. Tragic.