update, correction, etc.
(thought this was a recipe thread@!)

in 2001 we had several local fires that went to over 10,000 acres..
one was started by an arsonist....firecrackers made into an incendiary device. One was started by a tree into a high tension powerline. For this the Electric company was sued. and they offered some settlement for those who lost everything in that fire.

Another fire that went to over 100,000 acres was started by rr workers welding on a hot windy day .For this i believe the rr was sued for compensation.

the fires in 2008 were mainly caused by lightning...thousands of strikes in one day. the volume of fire overwhelmed the local fire fighting forces and activated the mutual aid system .Many of the fire fighteers who came to help were from out of the area. After a couple of weeks, the local fires nearby the community had been largely
contained and controlled, and the evacuation that had been in place was lifted, as it was believed that there was no immediate danger.

people who had loaded possessions, pets, etc in trailers returned to their homes, and most of them brought all of their evacuated goods with them.

The dense smoke that blanketed many square miles reduced visibility so that a fire a few miles away was not spotted until it was over 100 acres. Then it grew to 1000 acres. the terrain causes predictable
wind phenomenon...up canyon winds as the valley heats during the day turning to down canyon winds as the coolness of night sets it. The team that was in the area conducting fire fighting operations was not from this area. they were from bakersfield where the flat desert area
does not present such air flow patterns. the decision was made to light a substantial back fire between the advancing flame front and the residential area. the fires were lit near midnight. local fire
officials said "don't do it!" the out-of-area team ignored warnings.

at 2;30 THE FIRE JUMPED ALL LINES AND SWEPT THRU THE POPULATED AREA.
POLICE,HIGHWAY PATROL AND SHERRIFFS DROVE THRU THE NEIGHBORHOOD
WITH SIRENS ON ANNOUNCING OVER LOUD SPEAKERS TO "GET OUT" WE WERE TOLD WE HAD ABOUT 20 MINUTES TO GATHER UP EVERYTHING AND LEAVE.

THE FIRE THAT EVENTUALLY CONSUMED OVER 200 HOMES WAS A DIRECT RESULT OF HUMAN DECISIONS AND ACTIONS....THE BACK FIRE DID LITERALLY BACK FIRE.

it is possible that the oncoming fire would have done some damage if the line of fire had not been started by officials, but it certainly was not a fire totally caused by mother nature when it came down to the final destructive wave of flames!!

there was no compensation by the state fire agency for damage done.

it is doubtful that any houses were actually saved by the back fire.

some of the local fire officials felt terrible that the situation had been handled the way it was.

For those with little or no insurance (including me)
the county did provide dumpsters for the charred debris that remained and there were teams of clean up workers who removed the rubble that was determined to be toxic or dangerous. That was about the extent of help the government offered. no FEMA grants were awarded, as the damage occurred to less than 800 homes, which is thier qualifying limit. the utility companies, when they came to replace their lines and poles, cut down trees and left them piled on people's property with no offer to clean them up or remove these huge trees., they cut everything within 100 yards of their wires so to prevent any trees falling on them. i was faced with tons of trees cluttering up my yard and still cannot build a garden because they are in the way. i hired a bull dozer to move some, and was able to sell some to loggers,and mill some for building materials. even though they died 2 years ago and have sat in the sun for that amount of time i still cannot get these piles of trees to burn....though i have cut and piled brush and trees on and around them, and burned these piles several times....the
huge piles of timber still remain. any way the after math of the fire continues, and at first the salvation army and red cross helped a bit, but 2 years down the road, i am still living in a temporary motor home and strruggling to get over the fire. it is exhausting!

I thank all my mudcat friends who helped me...and I am glad I have
music to help me keep my strength up. (i can't say i have kept my
sanity thru all this......)