Ghosts from the Fire

 As one who has never experienced a large wildfire, my impression of what happens is that everything is burned to charred stumps.  This can and does happen, but the reality for most large fires is that the fire is very chaotic, destroying large areas but leaving other areas less affected.  In nature, this leaves open meadows where different kinds of vegetation can flourish.  When people move into forested areas, they usually want the trees to stay, and demand protection from any fire that threatens.  This results in an increase in smaller trees and shrubs, which provide ample fuel to guarantee much larger fires when they occur.  

If you look at the first picture, you will see many healthy trees in an area that was ravaged by the fire.  I would not infer that there was any recent disaster here in the back yard of the former assisted living facility where MDS has set up their operations center.


If I point the camera a little lower, you will see the actual situation.  


Theses are just a few of the 70+ trees that were burned to the trunk behind the duplexes, which sustained minor damage.  The main building used to have four wings.  Half of the building was reduced to rubble, while the other half stands defiant.


In other parts of the town, destruction was complete.


One of the strangest sights around town are the ghost remnants of cars that burned.  There are hundreds of these spots on the roads I drive over every time I get groceries.  When the roads became blocked by trees or the drivers just couldn't drive through the flames, the cars burned in place on the road.  Once the fuel tanks ruptured, the gasoline would burn on the ground under the car, leaving car-sized scars.  In some of the videos about the fire, survivors talked about their experiences.  One amazing rescue took place just down the road from our location.  Several vehicles were blocked by burning cars.  Just in time, a brave bulldozer operator working out in the open happened to come by , and pushed the abandoned cars off the road to allow the trapped vehicles to make it to safety.  I took this picture on Pearson Road where that incident took place.  You can easily see the car scars, as well as imprints from the bulldozer left in the hot asphalt.


You can hear the account of one of the survivors on this video, beginning at about 30:32.  It is the section entitled 09:31 a.m.  Nichole's story continues after talk about evacuation plans, at about 36:20

Frontline Video Link

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