Better late than never

For those who wondered what the heck happened to me after the fires a bit more than a week ago, here's a small explanation. I was depressed and tired after waiting and watching to see if the fire would hop Westlake Boulevard (it didn't or I might have had a whole new reason for a bit of depression). I just didn't want to deal with the fire, or my silly weblog. Work and family were already overly complicated.

Even a couple days later, once I felt a bit better about things I just couldn't rustle up the enthusiasm to post about it. I had a bunch of things gathered that I never posted. Oh well.

What went right seems to cover much of it, and I certainly appreciate the long of hours of training and preparation that went into preparing to fight the fire. The article does seem to lowball the massive amount of luck we had with the winds dying down so quickly. Had Thursday been another day of Santa Ana winds, all bets were off.

By Sunday morning things had calmed down enough that I didn't figure to make a pest of myself so I went out and took a bunch of photos.

I went by the Topanga Incident Command Post (over at Conejo Creek Park) first, and chatted with a friendly fellow with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection who hailed from Chico. He assured me that all was well including the Burbank fire which was still burning at that time. He also mentioned that he'd been coming down to SoCal fires for many years, beginning with the SoCal firestorms of 1993 (I'll always recall that election day, I'd had to turn around in Malibu Canyon to come back to vote and by the time I got back the Old Topanga/Malibu fire was underway).

Afterwards, I went to Oakbrook Park where there was little to see but a few engine companies ready in case anything happened.

Finally, I ran around for a bit in the uncomfortably named Smokey Ridge Avenue area of Oak Park. That section starts here and goes on for the rest of the collection. The firefighters must be commended for their work in Oak Park. There was a small bit of brush still smoldering on Sunday morning and that was it. That no homes were damaged continues to amaze me.

I'll finish up this fire saga with a couple interesting things to read:

• Natural History of Fire and Flood Cycles
• Let Malibu Burn: A political history of the Fire Coast