. . . all hell broke loose. . .

Saturday, the 25th of October, 2003. Cleveland National Forest, near Cedar Creek in central San Diego County. A few minutes after 5 pm. A hunter with a flare gun, so the story goes. Beginning about 5:40, and for nearly seven hours thereafter, a sheriff's helicopter monitored the growing inferno. Repeated appeals to wildlands fire authorities* produced no effective response. Although a firefighting helicopter and two firefighting C130 tanker planes were available nearby, it was against policy to engage these resources within an hour before sunset (about 6:05 that evening). A sheriff's helicopter pilot on his way to drop retardant on the still small fire was ordered not to. By 1 am Sunday, municipal fire trucks, in significant numbers, arrived near the fire. Homes and other structures now began to burn. Strong winds had been forecast, and in these early morning hours began to build, soon to gusts of 70 miles per hour. It was now too late, 'all hell' had broken loose. While in their vehicles, trying to escape, victims were overtaken by flames. A small wildfire had been granted the opportunity to become a great and deadly firestorm.

Wednesday, the 29th. The San Diego communities of Scripps Ranch and Tierrasanta have burned, as have Crest and the Barona Indian Reservation, where many have lost their lives. (We wonder if it is instructive to note that the Barona Casino was "saved", as, it seems, were all area casinos!) High pressure to the east has broken down; "Santa Ana" (east to west) winds cease and prevailing winds (again, as forecast) now push the fires toward the mountains and forests to the east. Firefighters finally have the support of a few C130 firefighting aircraft for the Cedar Fire, and for the first time in a blaze now four days old, these resources are engaged. The five prominent summits of the Cuyamaca Mountains are incinerated. Status of the other two major fires in San Diego County: the Otay Mountain Fire to the southwest is considered contained, the Paradise Fire to the north is raging eastward, through agricultural lands, toward Mount Palomar.

Thursday, the 30th. News wires reported 121 fire fighting aircraft engaged in California's 11 wild fires. 13 of them were assigned to the Cedar Fire, which had become the largest fire in California history and presumably one of the largest fires man had ever fought. The other ten fires combined had consumed approximately as much area as had the Cedar Fire itself. The other ten combined had consumed far fewer homes than had the Cedar Fire. The Cedar Fire was responsible for most of the state's fire fatalities. But the Cedar Fire was allotted a small portion of the aircraft fighting California fires (13 of 121). Questions had arisen as to whether decision-makers in the NFS and CDF had even been aware of the location of some of the fires' fronts. It is likely that problems of procedure, magnitude, communication, and visibility all factored into this; as a result, San Diego County remained a torch.

In the last week of October 2003, more than 400,000 acres (roughly 650 square miles) of San Diego County burned. Below is a photo or what is left of the once rich forests of the Cuyamaca Mountains, home to great, centuries-old oaks and conifers, and one of the areas greatest concentrations of wildlife. As might have been expected, right wing polemicists seized upon the moment to blame "the posy-sniffers" (a.k.a. "environmentalist wackos") for protecting what environmentalists call habitat but anti-environmentalists cynically refer to as mere "fuel". Dare one point out the obvious, that it is both? Listening to the right-wing radio talk shows, one would think the posy-sniffers started the fire, after introducing both the drought [er, global warming "ruse"] and the high winds, and then caused the initial sloth-like reaction to it. One of the rightist radio mouths blustered, as he wound up for an assault on the heinous environmentalist wackos, "Hey, I like the animals. I'm not against animals. I like the squirrels and the tree monkeys and the - the - the things we have out there in the - in the - - you know - - but . . ."
Yes indeed, tree monkeys. Out there in the, uh, you know - - monkey trees. Is it not enough to have lost so much? Must we be beset with genuinely ignorant radio buffoons, enraptured with the resonance of their own voice, happily and stupidly rubbing salt in the wounds? It seems that San Diego County's native "monkeys" are its talk show hosts.

* I have to point out, in no uncertain terms, that my questioning of, and frustration with, governmental policy and the administrative paralysis in dealing with the Cedar Fire effectively and in a timely manner, does not reflect negatively on the professional and dedicated firefighters themselves. I have nothing but respect and appreciation for them. One firefighter died fighting this blaze. The serious questions run to whether it should have come to this...

All photos on this page are of the Cedar Fire. But concurrently, Otay (say oh-tie) Mountain burned -- something close to 50,000 acres. Almost 60,000 acres burned between Escondido and Palomar Mountain (the Paradise Fire). A year earlier (2002), another 65,000 acres burned on the eastern escarpment of the Laguna and Volcan Mountains (the Pines Fire). In 2001, a large portion of the southern Cleveland National Forest burned (the Viejas Fire). In 2000, Agua Tibia Mountain burned for nearly a month. It would almost seem that there is little left to burn. Politicos, bureaucrats, and other talking heads tell us "we will rise from the ashes," and, "we will rebuild and be bigger and better than ever." Bigger and better? Well, of course we must strive to put some kind of a happy face on such a tragedy, we can't wallow in our loses. But how does a bureaucrat, or any collection of mere human beings, rebuild a 400 year old sugar pine that stood 180 feet tall? An undulating shag-carpet of forests and brush flowing over rugged peaks across hundreds of square miles? Local "news" coverage offers us the usual warm-fuzzy stories about people who saved their dog or their horse. But what is left for the deer, quail, phoebe, fox, squirrel, bobcat? Many people give the question no thought, many others honestly do not care. These are those who never knew the forests and the canyons. The "ditto heads", akin to our other talking heads, intent on becoming "bigger and better". San Diego County is not the Pacific northwest. Precipitation is modest, even in the mountains. 2003 is forecast to be the sixth year of a twenty-five year drought in Southern California. Global warming? These forests will not recover in my lifetime. Will they ever? Could it have been prevented? Given the outcome, I don't know how anyone could argue that the initial response was appropriate, but, given human nature, it is also easy to see that someone certainly will. It will be argued, by the entrenched, that the fire was fought "by the book". No argument - - but that is not the important issue now. Was "the book" right? The only thing that we can hope to take from this is a hard-learned lesson. Will it be learned? Perhaps that is the only question that matters know. This fire will be scrutinized and studied, at least we must hope that it will be, and that other peoples and lands and plant and animal communities will benefit.

"In the course of our various assignments we were exposed to fire at a level that was totally new to all of us. In one conversation, we agreed that we saw more and bigger fire in two days than all of us had seen collectively in our entire careers."

- Notes from the Cedar Fire, Colin Wilson, Anderson Valley/ Boonville wildlands firefighter