California Burning

By now, many of you have probably seen the news reports of the horrible wildfires throughout Southern California, including the devastating fire that has destroyed a number of structures in Malibu, which is about 30 minutes from where we live.

But even closer to us is a wildfire that started about 11:00 this morning, which has been called the "Nightsky Fire" (because it was located near Nightsky Drive in Moorpark, CA). The Ventura County Star website includes this story that describes the Nightsky Fire.

To see how close this is to our home, go to Google Maps and type in "Nightsky Drive, Moorpark CA". You'll see the circular "Nightsky Drive" in the center of the map, and north of that you'll see Tierra Rejada Road, a major road in Moorpark. In the very top left corner of the map you'll see Williams Ranch Road running parallel with Tierra Rejada Road, just north a couple of blocks. We live on a cul de sac off of Williams Ranch Road.

To get a better idea of the topography, click on the "Hybrid" view of the map, which will show you that Nightsky Drive is in a large hilly zone that sits south of the more densely populated Tierra Rejada area of Moorpark and north of the homes in the Santa Rosa Valley (scroll down in the map and you'll see Santa Rosa Road). Tierra Rejada Road and Santa Rosa Road are approximately the same elevation, and between them the hills rise rapidly and form a ridgeline that runs parallel to the two roads. I believe most of the fire was on the south side of those hills, i.e. between the hills west of Nightsky and north of Santa Rosa Road. However, some of the fire came over the crest of the hill near Nightsky and partially down the north slope toward Tierra Rejada, and from our house we could see smoke rising from the hills not far above Tierra Rejada and the helicopters dropping water on the north side of those hills.

When compared to the Malibu fire, the Nightsky fire was rather small. However, any wildfire that near to your home is serious business. I was at the church building for meetings this morning when a local church member who is a ham radio operator learned of the fire and called our bishop's office to alert our bishop. The Nightsky Drive area (Lexington Hills) is in the ward with which our ward shares the church building, so we alerted the bishop of that ward of the situation, and he informed his ward members that those who lived in the area may want to go home to check on their homes. As of 6 p.m. tonight, I believe the roof of one home in the Santa Rosa Valley had caught fire -- I don't believe that any of our church members had any property damage but I don't know that yet for certain.

Here are a few photos included on the Ventura County Star's website (captions are theirs as well):

The Nightsky fire in Moorpark is seen approaching a home at the top of a hill on Oct. 21, 2007, near Tierra Rejada Road.

Ventura County Firefighters watch the Nightsky fire at a home in Moorpark near Tierra Rejada Road on Oct. 21, 2007.

A helicopter drops water onto the fireline of the Nightsky fire near Santa Rosa Road on Oct. 21, 2007.

Ventura County inmates trained by Cal Fire work the main fireline on Oct. 21, 2007 at the Nightsky fire in Moorpark.

To the north of Moorpark, a separate wildfire is burning and has required the evacuation of residents in Piru and parts of Fillmore. That fire is much further away from our home. However, because the winds have been blowing from the north, that fire is burning toward Moorpark.

Its a sobering thought to think that everything tangible you own could be taken from you in an instant. Its comforting to know that what is really important can be yours eternally. For a few photos of what I hope will be mine eternally, read my post earlier tonight. Man, she's cute, don't you think!

Hopefully the firefighters will get these blazes under control and no further lives will be threatened. Please join us in praying for the firefighters and those who have been displaced from their homes.