Fi(re)nale

I've fallen a bit out on the ol' fire loop. I know things are a lot better, as they've lifted some of the evacuation orders, but I'm not sure to what degree. With more resources on-hand and cooperative weather, the fire hasn't grown too much for about 5 days. You can see in the first pic below how close the fire came to residences, but were saved by the first-responders...I saw this scene repeated over and over as I drove through the burned-out areas. Serious rock stars, those guys and gals, they put in a ton of effort.

Then there's the pic of some fine real estate for sale...bet it's a lot cheaper this month than last! On the left-hand side of the third image (truck), you'll notice some reddish-brown grass that isn't burnt. That's the end of a line where a huge plane dropped it's load of retardent. You can also see this same stretch extending out of the bottom-right corner of the photo with the saved houses. The forth shot shows the extreme heat and speed with which the fire moved across the mountainside - see the light 'halos' on the ground below the tree cluster, flashed them like film negatives. The last shot, of the sunset, shows some lingering smoke from hotspots they're mopping up in the fire's wake.

Also, thanks to everyone for their com(pli)ments on this project - they're much appreciated.

CR