Monday morning at 10:00, my wife, Muri, and I set out to deliver Meals on Wheels, our monthly service date. As we left our neighborhood, strong Santa Ana winds were blowing in from the East, filling that air with ash from the recent Canyon Fire. The fire watch truck was parked at the top of Weir Canyon Road, as it usually is when fire danger is high but we saw no sign of smoke. By 10:30, we had loaded our cooler of meals into the car and were on our way to our first client. Now, a large smoke plume was rising above Anaheim Hills, so we turned on the radio. A fast moving fire has broken out near the site of last month’s Canyon Fire. Evacuation of Anaheim Hills is imminent. We (more…)
As I sit here trying to feed my poor starving blog, helicopters fly back and forth at low altitude over our house, rattling the windows, a reminder that the 2,000 acre Canyon Fire, to the east of us, is under control but not out. Wildfires are a fact of life here in Socal and the heartbeat of anyone who has lived in proximity to the many wilderness areas here is sure to accelerate at the sight of a smoke plume nearby. And they all look closer than they are. The Canyon Fire started 5 miles to the East of us, almost
exactly where the devastating Freeway Complex started in 2008. That monster burned 20,000 acres and took 190 homes, several within a mile or so of us. We were evacuated for that fire and the 2006 fire 2 years earlier because our house is one house-row away from a wilderness area. As a wildfire veteran, when the smoke first appeared on Tuesday, the first thing I noticed was which way the smoke was blowing. It was not blowing over our house, which is a good thing, at least for us, but it’s no promise of safety. In the late summer, early autumn winds shift frequently from primarily eastward offshore to Santa 
Ana winds, which howl westward down the Santa Ana Canyon where we live. The Canyon Fire spread rapidly eastward toward Corona, prompting the evacuation of 1,500 homes, including our good friends who live in one of the neighborhoods most closely threatened. It is never good when you see pictures of a friend’s neighborhood on the news. 
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