California Burning – The Santiago Fire Photo-Dump


It was actually 8-ish AM that these pictures where taken, but the thick smoke from the fire makes it look like late noon.
There’s ash snow falling and breathing is hard, even when inside.






Early noon in the hills:




















Cooked dead cactus dot the hillside.














Black hills surround suburbia.
Theres a looming sense of urgency as the radio warns people to stay inside…
with occasional breaks for a word from the sponsor, many being insurance companies…
which adds a hint of irony to the situation.














The smoke pillars look like slow moving tornadoes gnawing at the landscape.
There are occasional road blocks in the hills as police direct traffic away from threatened neighborhoods.