In October of 2007 California Was Burning. .................................................................... This fire did not bypass our SHECKLER RANCH Don Sheckler Reports:
Everyone here is fine. My mom lost her rental property (her family's side) but the Sheckler property only lost one structure, an old blacksmith shop my dad made, which was no longer in use. Almost all of the brush on our 154 acres (40 acres in Bee Canyon the rest in Engineer Springs) was burned by the Harris fire. Electricitry and phone service is still out. I set up a generator so that they can power up the stove and pump water, but they are receiving free meals so I think they are not using the stove. In the Escondido area, the fire burned up to the community our house is in, but no houses in our community burned. We live in a gated community surrounded mostly by the Eagle Crest golf course. It's in a valley (and fire burns much slower downhill), and the brush on the hills wasn't heavy (much of it burned off several years ago, and the few places where the brush does come close to houses it is on the South slope of the hills, where the brush tends to be lighter). We had a smoke problem in our valley, since it tended to retain a lot of smoke. Mexico doesn't have this sorta fire problem (at least not to the same extent) simply because they lack the resources to fight wildfires. The US forestry approach of preventing all wildfires allows considerable fuel to build up, so that when a fire does get away it's a big one. If it was up to me, the approach would focus on controlled burns more than prevention. I think they are moving this way, but not very fast. Below are photos from a Navy report:
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