Wildfire Aftermath:

 I have written several posts on wildfire mitigation and wildfire. This is what we drove home to when the firefighters allowed us to return. If this wasn't bad enough several residents found their homes nothing but ashes and burned and warped tin that uses to be their roof laying on the ground. Reports started to come in about animals that were burned to death or still walking destined to die. People were sifting through the ashes looking for their valuables. 

There were 124 structures totally destroyed and more partially damaged. It was like there was a collective groan coming from the community. People were wondering what else could go wrong, and it didn't take long to find out. A few days later it rained and large rocks and trees washed down the mountain. We had 4-5' on our road that blocked the road. There were deep culverts where there were none before.

Homes that survived smelled of smoke and it was so hot in our house some furniture joints came apart. We used a ozone machine for days to dissipate the strong smoke odor. Then there were the hot spots that had to be extinguished where tree stumps had burned into the ground. Wildfires are nothing to be taken lightly and those who were impacted had emotional scars for a long time. 

Ours was started by a foreign man who disregarded a red flag order. He finally was not charged but had to leave our country.  Those impacted had no justice and he was finally gone to his home country without reimbursing those impacted. When I see people in our area burn leaves on the ground it brings back terrible memories. We have a fire pit but always have a water hose and tools at hand in case it starts to pose a danger.