Bopcha Blog

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.