Rocky Fire… Twilight in Flames 8/3

August 3, 2015 Rocky Fire

Twilight in flames. 

It brought tears to my eyes...

After Rocky Fire… The Map

Due to the heat (106F) and smoldering hot spots, its been real smoky these last 2 days... 95,000 acres has burned so far... Rocky Fire was 69,500 acres and Jerusalem which is still burning is at 25,100 acres this morning. This 'second' fire began because an ex-firefighter, now pot grower, decided to do an illegal 'back burn' around his precious plants in order to protect them from Rocky Fire. I hope his place burned down. Not sure yet what started Rocky Fire but it was by humans in the Lower Lake area, many miles away from Twilight. 

Rocky Fire should never have jumped Hwy 20 but their firefighting focus was on the southern and eastern ends until Saturday, the day we were evacuated and our area became its clear next destination. I honestly believe that compromises and concessions were made... evidenced by their fore-knowledge that the fire would burn through the ranch 3-4 days before it actually did so. Cal-Fire were unwilling to disclose the fact that Rocky Fire had jumped Hwy 20 & burned through my property Monday until Tuesday evening whilst The Press Democrat published its statement early Monday morning. Cal-Fire was also unwilling to tell us the condition of our properties- the only thing that gave us hope was a live helicopter footage taken on Wednesday afternoon by Channel 3 News which a friend happen to see on YouTube.

Regardless of those administrative decisions and lack of air tankers in our area, I am immensely grateful to the one that dropped fire retardant all over my buildings / property; and to the fire fighting crews whom helped insure that my structures did not burn on Monday. Thank you and to those idiot fire starters: you suck beyond words.

After Rocky Fire… Mountain and Upper Orchards

The upper water tanks
were spared from fire
damage and so was the
northern strip of the property.

Olives, Figs, Mulberry trees 
were not damaged
one cherry was scorched
50% of the new French lavenders
are unlikely to recover

Dingo's Tree as well
as Gurdy's Daisy Shrub
are doing fine though.

Some of the oaks, pines, 
manzanitas on the 
mountain side
may recover

After Rocky Fire… Pawlonia and Apple Orchards

Here are the post fire 

views of the Pawlonia

and Winter Spiral

Apple Orchards

About half the Pawlonias

got hit with fire…

and the southwest end 

of the apple orchard

got scorched as well.

Its unclear to me

how many of the trees 

will survive…

The huge 14 yr old
lavenders were vaporized
and some of the
younger ones did
not survive the heat
and lack of water.

After Rocky Fire… Spiral Garden Destroyed

The 80' diameter

Spiral Garden

did not survive

the onslaught of

Rocky Fire

There is a 

smattering of

plants on the interior

that may pull through

but whilst the

Italian cypresses

look like they may

- they won't -

with the exception

of the smallest one on

Merlin's grave.

The biggest 

remaining hope

in this garden

are the Buddleias

(butterfly bushes)

on its exterior

which will need

to be cut back

for new growth.

After Rocky Fire… Dome Workshop

Rocky Fire

burned right close

to the dome workshop.

You can see that

the firefighter crew

created a fire break.

The orange red

'stuff' on the 

vinyl cover and roof

is the fire retardant

that gets dropped 

or sprayed to 

protect prime areas

and structures.

It will be a task

to clean and prep

for paintwork.

Regretably

we have discovered 

some small holes

in the vinyl cover.

I believe these can

be fixed with

patches and paint.

After Rocky Fire… Driveway Views

Driveway Views of 

scorched neighborhood.

Original gate posts 

and its artsy wood

extension burned 

to oblivion

New 6x6 posts were

sunk into the ground

and original gates

were re-hung.

They will need to be 

cleaned, restored and

painted before rain season

After Rocky Fire… Views from the Veggie Garden

The first photo was 

taken from the same location

that the Rocky Fire Approaching 

photographs were taken.

These show the vegetable garden

where 3 raised beds were burned 

to the ground; a plastic shed
and tool box melted away;
Italian cypresses scorched
beyond hope and all

the rosemaries that were 

at their feet have vaporized.

Today, Bruce repaired two 

of the raised beds 

that were fire damaged… 

we will still have six 

raised beds that can be used.

A miracle, really.

After Rocky Fire - Live Copter over Twilight 8/5

http://www.kcra.com/news/livecopter3-shows-wide-burn-area-from-rocky-fire/34541588

This one minute news segment is what told us on Wednesday night what we could expect to come home to. We were so grateful for this information as Cal-Fire did not disclose anything to us... including that Rocky Fire had jumped over Hwy 20 and burned through the property on Monday 8/3. We only knew this on Tuesday night and nothing else.

The truth is… fire retardant had been dropped on the property, on all structures and firefighters fought to safeguard Twilight. I am truly grateful to them !

Rocky Fire Approaching Twilight 7-31

Rocky Fire began 

at 3.30pm on 7-29

east Lower Lake, CA

Photos taken July 31st

17,500 acres burned 

at this juncture

moving northbound 

towards Twilight

During this time

it was not unusual

to have burned oak

leaves, pine needles

and ash falling

from the sky.