The La Canada Station Fire continues to gnaw it’s way through the Angeles Crest forest, high atop the ridge, along La Canada Flintridge, and into Altadena. We can see it quite clearly from our patio, which is just a short distance from the Rose Bowl. As of 1am this morning, the fire is only 5% contained. It’s been burning for more than 24 hours. Needless to say, the air quality in Pasadena is pretty horrendous. I’ve been doing my best to stay indoors, we cleaned and replaced all the air conditioning filters in the house and are keeping the windows closed. I mostly worry about the cats and their precious little lungs. I’m also dosing up on Vitamin C, Olive Leaf, Silver, and drinking tons of water. This is the kind of air quality that gives a person heavy bronchitis – no jinx.
After spending a good 20 minutes looking through wedding invitation designs, AJB, Mom, JCS, and I had dinner. Afterward, as we drove North on Fair Oaks Ave. in Old Town, you could see these massive flames leaping above the mountaintop. We decided to detour our route home and head up a little further on Fair Oaks. We couldn’t see much, so we came back home. There was, in fact, a better view from our patio and I took a few unremarkable photos.
A few moments after Mom left, she called and informed us that the view from the Holly St. Bridge (just around the corner from us) was spectacular. I grabbed my camera and tripod and out we went. Immediately upon arrival, you could see an impressive panoramic view of the mountains all ablaze. It was indeed, as Mom said, spectacular. Almost too spectacular. Mesmerizing, even.
Elliot, a man who’d found his way to the bridge from a road trip to North Carolina was also taking pictures. Passersby stopped and looked out their car windows, several students took pictures down a ways from us. We chatted with Elliot about everything from tofu recipes, government conspiracies, and 2012 to the fire in general. He was a nice guy and we enjoyed talking to him. It’s interesting the people you meet on a bridge at midnight while photographing one of the most breathtaking fires this area has seen in 50 years. During our conversation with Elliot, we also witnessed 4 quick bursts of bright orange/white light from behind a ridge. We couldn’t tell what they were, but guessed they were either trees exploding (as they do) or a transformer blowing. Pretty amazing.
In other news, my wedding dress arrived today. It, like the fires, is spectacular.
Here are some of the photos I took. AJB took image #7.
Photos: Kristen Simental www.kristensimental.com
For scale, it’s worth noting that the tiny little red/green/white sign in the lower left corner is THE ROSE BOWL.
Should also probably point out to our out-of-town friends and relations that we are not in any danger from this fire. Even though the flames look alarmingly close, they’re still miles away. In order to reach us, the fire would have to become a Great Chicago Fire kind of event. (And these days they have things like fire hydrants.)
It’d have to burn down the entire mountain, burn through the entire cities of La Canada and Altadena, burn all of north Pasadena, jump across the gigantic 210 freeway, and burn down the Rose Bowl before it could get to us.
Not that it couldn’t happen… but it’s pretty dern near impossible.