I've been watching the South Lake Tahoe fires with much interest over the last two days. My high school was the one threatened. Watching Streaming TV from KCRA-TV in Sacramento last night, I saw footage of my old family home (we sold it and moved in 1999) with people loading up their belongings into the Jeep and fleeing.
A later clip on KOLO TV showed a reporter on the same street with trees burning less than 100 feet from the house.
My Dad built that house with his own hands. It was a terrible thing to watch the fire jump the fire lines and race downhill towards the big expensive Tahoe Keys homes.
All I can say today is a big thank you to the Forest Service, to the South Tahoe Fire Department and its volunteers, and to the nearly 2000 people who are risking their lives to save those homes. Two firefighters almost died yesterday. Five went to Barton Memorial with smoke inhalation. 38 residents of Barton were evacuated because this fire is still not out.
The moral of the story is that we blog every day about fires here and there and their impact on air quality. While we are committed to help keep our country's air clean and believe that the observations we make are helping, we can't lose sight that buried in each and every one of those fire pixels, there is the potential that someone's home and history are going up in smoke.
Take some time tonight with your family and be prepared for such a disaster happening to you. Nature isn't always kind and we are very thankful here on USAQ that no one has been hurt in this fire.
Posted by Ray Hoff at June 27, 2007 5:42 PM