Catalina Island on Fire
Flames frame a seaside section of Avalon as the blaze continues toward homes and businesses.
(Kevork Djansezian / AP)
Everyone who lives in California knows about fire. We have had some devastating fires in the last several years. Virtually no part of this state escapes the deadly flames. A couple of years ago a fire wiped out close to 400 homes not far from where I live. The infamous Santa Ana winds whipping down our canyons and arroyos creating wind tunnels of deadly fire often make it virtually impossible to control and put out.
Early this year two teeage boys were playing around and almost burned down the (in)famous HOLLYWOOD sign when they set a fire that burned several acres of brush nearby. Most recently the LA Times has been full of pictures of fires in and around LA. One of our other iconic landmarks the Griffiths Park Observatory was under seige. Now Catalina Island, probably known best as the place Natalie Wood spent her evening before her accidental death by drowning, is on fire. Isolated and small Catalina is very difficult to defend. Which seems sort of odd since it is surrounded by water. Everyone who lives there has been evacuated. Everyone who lives there is dependent on tourism to survive. I've visited Catalina a couple of times and enjoyed my time there. I just pray this fire doesn't devastate this special and unusual place. The link on the photo credit will take you to the other pictures from the LA Times.
For the most part everyone has been holding their collective breath about fire season. We haven't had much rain and it's been warmer than usual for this time of year. The heart of fire season is August, September and October. Looks like it's going to be a long hot summer.
Labels: Catalina Island, Fire Fighters, Griffiths Park Observatory, Hollywood, LA Times
Posted by Rosie at 7:33 AM
2 Comments:
Isn't it horrible? So scary. I feel so bad! We are still waiting to see if the Boy Scout camp survived. Jeff is supposed to go this summer for a week.
I've heard a couple interviews with residfents saying they should bring back the goats to control the vegetation out there, too. I'm just grateful that they seem to have only lost one house (although that's a terrible loss in and of itself)- it could have been so much worse.
Lori I haven't read or heard anything about the camp. I'm glad most of Avalon seems okay though. The LA Times said today that they aren't sure what caused the fire but think it may have been caused by some contractors doing some upgrade work on the island. The article made it sound like they were letting some people go back with the fire 35% contained.
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