Wildfire at Twilight: Sat June 12th

At precisely 3.30 am... in the final phase of the dark moon... heavy winds tore through the main electrical connection to the Twilight... ripping off the mounted pole, the electrical main box, and the siding to the well house.

The electrical line hit the ground and a wildfire began to simmer on the western end of the property.

It travelled away from the well house, where the Brigit altar and prayer ties reside...

... heading southbound through manzanita and brush into a clearing......

then headed eastbound avoiding a large brush area but going towards the geodesic dome...

Once again the winds guided the wildfire southbound... avoiding the dome...

and moving towards the side of the spiral garden...

Flames simmered through the previously weed whacked area and shifted direction eastbound past the shed & my van parked on the other side... skirting the Pawlonias and then burning between the rastra blocks & apple winter spiral...

At that point... the fire widened burning towards the figs...

... and through the olive trees...

and then moving up towards the rear end of the compound fencing... At that point and in one single hot spot, the fire began its ascent up the mountain.

At that moment, I gave up my firefighting efforts and ran towards my van to get off property ... to open the gates and make way for the fire trucks.

The fire had already cleared through the main compound... avoiding every single structure and almost all the orchards and spiral gardens !!!

I was asked to stay off property until the fire was "contained" at which point I returned to take these photos.

The fire was named Mule fire and all 4 fire districts in Lake County, plus Wilbur & Brooks from Colusa County came to render aid. I think about a dozen fire engines, two water tenders, one helicopter, one dozer and I believe there were approx 3 hotshot inmate crews.

Then there were all the supporting, administrative, security and team leaders present as well. Perhaps close to 125+ individuals all working hard to contain and control this wildfire.

Here an areal view of the western front part of the property...

All the dark GREY area is Chaparral brush which is highly flammable... * PINK is where it started- at the well house... ORANGE is the approximate area that burnt... and the YELLOW areas are where the outbuildings, garden and orchards are located.

This is the first in a series of blog write ups on this wildfire... I will be reporting back shortly on status, damages and progress report on restoring the power outage... I want to give a BIG thank you to everyone who is helping us get through this crisis with more ease. Fundraising information including a ChipIn event button will follow as soon as I can get it together.

MUCH GRATiTUDE,

from all of us here at Twilight !