The camp did not lose any structures. Immensely grateful to God and the men who fought the fire. We got to the camp Friday 8-26 about 6PM and got over an hour tour with blow by blow commentary from the firemen. We learned a back fire was set at the rear of the caretakers. It reduced the flames to about 60' or so. With out the back fire, the flames would have been closer to 100' and the fire fighters would have had to retreat.
The above photo is looking from the caretakers house toward the bathhouse which is beyond the oak. The trail to the canyon shows on the right side on the distant slope. There was still some smoke but this is fog.. Just what was needed to reduce the heat and help beat the fire down
Coming around the corner of the house a little. You can see the fibar for the zip swing. The tree did not catch fire.I am amazed that there is brown grass along with burnt grass.
The burn marks were attempts at back fires.. It burnt erratically in this area. Not sure why. You can see the kitchen supply trailer to the right of the play structure. Unscathed would be the word. Fire trucks are getting ready to move out. Our neighbor came over and brought his dogs. Again this is fog not smoke.
This is the crew that was on site when the fire roared up to camp. They are from southern California. When they first got to the camp it was one truck, 4 guys. Slowly trucks would roll in to join the fight. We heard they went into our shop and grabbed 18 shovels, chainsaw and sickle mower. They cleared around the yurts. Ran the mower down slope of the caretakers, all to make it defensible
Here is the back of Jon's RV covered with gel. Yurt deck railing in the distance
Back side of yurt 6 and 7. Unscathed as well. No ember burns just a little smell of smoke. Hard to see but a bull dozer made a pass here.
This is the back side of the chapel with Jennifer in the view. Three or so dozer tracks and some singed grass. The amazing thing is the fire stayed on the ground. It did not climb the trees.
Down in the canyon near the tee in the service road a tree was smoldering. They put this out.
Here is another hot spot across the creek. Tree root system smoldering away. I had brought 10 gallons of water down, which they used in the previous photo and above.
A little break time on the deck of yurt 8.
Back top side this is a big oak that had been shedding branches. The trees are stressed by 5 years of drought. In the background is the bathhouse. Back and to the right is the trail down to the creek.I did not take a picture but to the right it is a scorched earth hillside.
This is looking over the camp BBQ at where the oak had been growing for a long time.It was dying and they cut it down before the fire charged up the slope. You can see the far slope and the fire did not burn everything. My guess is it burned about 30%. Rather amazing isn't it.
One last picture. This is just off the side of the shop. The small structure is the camp well. The fire crossed through the fence onto our neighbors yard.. You can see how it stayed on the ground. They put it out with a bull dozer. Thanks be to God for his mercies
OK one more. This is near the fire pit with our hose bib in view.This is some scorched earth that occurred when the fire swept east. The far ridge is pretty well denuded of brush. This is the knob the cross is on. You can see as you look to the left, it is wiped bare by the fire.
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