Wow - what nice pictures of the logging operations -- and of the false brome, the lupine, and even sweet Noah doing some hard work, beating back the grass. Great idea I think. Since mitigating the potential for fire to reach a house is really fresh on my mind, I'm sending hugs to that hard working young man. I expect most of those evergreen's limbs are pretty high off the ground, but just in case it might be worth for that to be one of the projects that Bill and Tom take on someday. Fire mitigation in general I mean, not simply lopping off low hanging branches near the house. Sure appreciate those super pictures -- and wow, Scott really is TALL.
Hooray - the Black Forest fire is almost fully contained. Our evacuees and their animals have for most part returned home yesterday afternoon. One of the fire fighters (ffs) video'd a two hour battle to save someone's house -- they let the fire come up all the way to the mulch the folks had put around house to protect their flower beds (bad idea according to the ffs), holding it back with fire hoses. The owners had cut the limbs off the surrounding evergreens 10 feet up the trucks. The ffs said that helped save the house as the fire wasn't able to ignite the trees. We could see the flames trying to climb the tree trunks but it couldn't make it up to where the needles and smaller more flammable limbs were.
In some cases (one person said, I haven't substantiated) the AC would suck embers into house causing the fire to burn the house inside out. 15500 acres burned/482 houses gone totally and 17 damaged. Two people dead, lost as their trees had crowned and the fire swept over their house before they could get into their car--ffs found the car doors open and the people in the garage.
Thanks Dee for posting the picture. I simply cannot get the job done myself; appreciate you doing it.
Fire happening now in the Black Forest, about 20 miles (we're very safe) north of us. We have opened the ranch to folks that are being evacuated. I'm grateful every day that our woods haven't burned. If you look in the media library, you'll see the picture of the fire's smoke imaged from our kitchen deck. I cannot load the picture here. The website hates me.
I will be heading to the farm Tuesday, after work. Judith said Max may be able to fix it.
I will meet the false brome crew at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday! I'll take lots of photos, and I will measure the length of our border with Henkle Way so we can get a good estimate for fencing.
