Indian Gulch Fire

When we traded life in the city for life in the suburbs, I expected longer commutes to work, less restaurants, driving to the store instead of biking, etc. I didn't expect wildfires. The open space just over the ridge visible from our front windows has been burning since yesterday morning. Extremely dry conditions and high winds allowed what was a 5 acre fire to turn into a 700 acre fire in 12 hours.

Last night we could see the orange glow of the flames on the top of the ridge, swirling and flaring up with each gust of wind. The fire calmed down a bit as the wind died down overnight, but this morning the helicopter and plane are back at it, circling over our neighborhood as they try to prevent the fire from coming over the ridge and into the subdivision across the highway from us. There are no roads on the west side of the mountain, so the firefighters have had to hike to the fire, lugging all their equipment with them. The last I heard they had the fire 15% contained, and so far the high winds we were supposed to have today haven't materialized. Hopefully it stays that way and there won't be an even more impressive light show tonight.

Click the picture to read about the fire at www.9news.com.