Saturday, July 26, 2008

Big Sur Basin Fire - Aftermath

What is left of The Big Sur Basin Fire has moved inland. I took a bit of time today to drive down to the "old coast road" between Bixby Bridge and Andrew Molera State Park. Rather than a "road" it is more of a glorified firebreak. However, it does provide access to the hills above Big Sur where the fire has been burning for a month consuming more than 130,000 acres or 200 square miles. The devastation is impressive.

Everywhere up there in the Santa Lucia Mountains in the Los Padres National Forest there are signs of the heroic efforts of the fire fighters. The fire was literally stopped at the road's edge. Brush and trees freshly cut with chainsaws are plentiful. On the mountainsides there are breaks where a line bewtween green and black is plainly discernable.

I can not imagine how these men stood on the steep mountainsides let alone did what they did to stop the fire.


A bulldozer stands silent after weeks of fighting the blaze in the Big Sur hills.

This is how and where the fire was eventually stopped, cutting back the trees and brush over tens of thousands of acres. It must have been backbreaking. The firefighters took a stand and they won against the inferno.

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