..from the same ridge of the prior photo, ironically, at a fire lookout station. Last year the Angora fire raged up the hill, peaking with 400 ft. high flames, but stopped at the ridge top as the winds shifted. (video of this spot from Stanford Sierra Camp)
3,100 acres and 300 buildings burst into flames. 2,180 firefighters worked to contain the fire.
With many new housing starts on the ashes down below, The World According to Garp makes sense when it comes to fire insurance. This forest is unlikely to burn again for the next 30 years.
But a side effect of the growing success of fire prevention over the past 60 years, most of California is ripe for a fire. We have brought a natural patchwork of sporadic fires into systemic sync.
So on one Friday this summer, thunderstorms ignited the dry underbrush into 1800 separate forest fires in a few hours. I would imagine that these waves of fires are without historical precedent (looking back 50+ years), but are likely to get worse for a while.
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