Burbank Fire (4 pics)

[thomascanty]

As you've probably heard, there are a few big fires burning around here, including one right here in the Verdugo Mountains above Burbank. I just took these shots from the roof of the building I work in. The edits aren't the best since my computer here at work only has Photoshop 5.5 on it, but they'll do for now. All were shot at 280mm (70-200 f/4L + 1.4x TC).

http://www.ldphotography.net/cdpf/fire01-02.jpg

http://www.ldphotography.net/cdpf/fire02-02.jpg

http://www.ldphotography.net/cdpf/fire03-02.jpg

http://www.ldphotography.net/cdpf/fire04-02.jpg

[thomascanty]

Oops, I mispoke. The first two were at 280mm. The second two were at the wide end of the lens, 98mm.

[Steve Parr]

We were evacuated during the Cedar Fire in October of 2003.

Hope it doesn't get too close, man. That can be some scary stuff...

Steve

[thomascanty]

Hope it doesn't get too close, man. That can be some scary stuff...

I think it would take an awful lot for me to be evacuated. Despite how close the flames look in the pictures, they're really a few (four or five) miles away, and it's all city/valley in between. If it burned all the way here, the damage would probably rival even Katrina...

By the way, I replaced the pictures with slightly better quality ones. Now that I'm home I can run them through my new workflow. Even though these were also quick edits, I get much, much, much better results now that I use Adobe Camera Raw to process the RAW files instead of BreezeBrowser... I don't know why it took me so long to switch...

[DwightMcCann]

I've been evacuated for fires two or three times in 30 years in Santa Barbara County. It is scary and people just don't understand how powerful and unstoppable wildfires are ... kinda like water, way more powerful than the inexperienced expect. Even if you are not threatened by flames, there is always all that smoke and ash falling for days. You keep safe, buddy!

[stoneylonesome]

WOW! Lonnie those are something else, I've been following the fires on the news and was wondering if you were anywhere near them. Guess you are. 4 miles isn't that far.

[thomascanty]

Even if you are not threatened by flames, there is always all that smoke and ash falling for days. You keep safe, buddy!

Yes, there is that, too. The other major fire that was burning near here is on the other side of the valley, and I'm right in the middle. The smell of smoke has been pretty strong for a few days now, and there's a layer of dusty ash on everything.

WOW! Lonnie those are something else, I've been following the fires on the news and was wondering if you were anywhere near them. Guess you are. 4 miles isn't that far.

No, it isn't very far, but like I said it's all city between the fire and me, not forest or brush. I don't think I'd ever have to worry about it getting any closer. It looks like they really got a handle on it today, too. I'm sure there are probably still hot spots up there, but I can't see flames from work today. Looks like it's out for the most part.

[nactos]

nice pics, I went there that night but I couldn't find a good spot to take pics, I was headin up to the Castaway and everything was blocked.... but I did get some day shot from Target parking lot. The Chatsworth fire still burning...it's been bout 5 days now. with all the smoke in the valley, my nose has been killin me:(

[RockOne]

They're amazing.

[thomascanty]

I went there that night but I couldn't find a good spot to take pics, I was headin up to the Castaway and everything was blocked....

A guy I work with had a dinner party at the Castaway on Sunday. They had to park downhill from there and be shuttled up because the fire trucks and equipment used up most of the parking lot.

I took these pictures from the roof of Saint Joseph Medical Center on the other side of the city from where the fire was actually located.

[nactos]

A guy I work with had a dinner party at the Castaway on Sunday. They had to park downhill from there and be shuttled up because the fire trucks and equipment used up most of the parking lot.

I took these pictures from the roof of Saint Joseph Medical Center on the other side of the city from where the fire was actually located.
wow, that's some long range shots.

[pakololo]

yea i sure do remember that fire, that day i came home, and the sky was lit up like crazy im not sure if it was cause of the fire but i know it had something to do with it .... the smoke maybe ... check,

http://xs49.xs.to/pics/05403/sun1.jpg

http://xs49.xs.to/pics/05403/sun2.jpg

http://xs49.xs.to/pics/05403/sun3.jpg

http://xs49.xs.to/pics/05403/sun4.jpg

**edit
it was a nasty feeling day but the sun was nice :) shot with a wide 18mm and a 300 mm long lens
oh yah and i did no tweaking, just a little sharpening

[DwightMcCann]

It is very hard to appreciate just how big those flames are and how much smoke is being generated by wildfires unless you get up real close and personal. I don't want to steal this thread but here are a couple from a wildfire last year. Same helicopter in both images I think, with the first one a few hours before the second ... the first is for size comparison.

[DwightMcCann]

In the first picture here, those flames are fifty to 100 feet tall. In the second image, I'm guessint that the little flame you can see on the left is behind the top of the hill and is likely 50 feet tall. The reason the helicopter have such a long tether to the water bucket is because the flames are so hot and can leap so high so quickly that that buffer is essential.

[pakololo]

wow good job on the pictures man, these look like a real big fire (which it was) oh my...

[marie]

:cool:
all the photographs are very good

wondering about the wildlife, along with everything else caught up in the fire
:confused:

[thomascanty]

yea i sure do remember that fire, that day i came home, and the sky was lit up like crazy im not sure if it was cause of the fire but i know it had something to do with it .... the smoke maybe ...

Nice sunset shots! I think it's the smoke that makes the sky so red during sunset when the fires are burning. It does make for some great photographic opportunities, doesn't it?

I don't want to steal this thread but here are a couple from a wildfire last year.

Don't worry about hijacking the thread. I don't mind at all. You got some real good ones here. Too bad I work nights. I should have gone to work and up on the roof during the day and gotten some pictures while the helicopters were flying, too.

Here's my all time favorite wildfire picture. Unfortunately, I can't claim credit for it, but I sure wish I could. It was taken by a newspaper photographer during the Curve fire in the Angeles National Forest near Crystal Lake back in 2002.

http://www.ldphotography.net/cdpf/tankerdropT-16.jpg

wondering about the wildlife, along with everything else caught up in the fire
:confused:

Unfortunately, fires like this are usually pretty devastating to the wildlife. Shortly after the Curve fire in 2002, I took a hike into the burned area (while it was still smoldering with hot spots even). I met up with a couple forest rangers who were also up there surveying the area for a report they had to write. They told me about hundreds of squirrels, chipmunks, foxes, deer, etc. they had found dead. Most die from smoke inhilation.

[marie]

thanks for that Lonnie :(
it's to be expected I guess

that last is a photo and a half
:shock:

it almost looks like it is two pictures in one
the men are just standing there as if nothing is crashing down right beside them
(in the picture anyway)
:eek:

[thomascanty]

the men are just standing there as if nothing is crashing down right beside them


I'm not sure if you really think the plane was crashing, so I wanted to clarify... It's a tanker that was dropping a load of fire retardant on a hot spot next to Angeles Crest Highway, near where it intersects with Highway 38*. The plane didn't crash. After releasing the chemical mix, the pilot banked away from the cliff side and flew away for another run.

* The intersection with Highway 38 is still there, but that highway has been closed from Angeles Crest Highway south to just above Crystal Lake since the 1960's when huge pieces of it washed away down the steep hillsides during a particularly wet and rainy winter. Now, Highway 38 is closed several dozen miles further south because of 1) the Curve Fire when that picture of the plane was taken, and 2) this past, even wetter winter when still more of the deteriorating highway was washed away.

[marie]

I'm not sure if you really think the plane was crashing, so I wanted to clarify... It's a tanker that was dropping a load of fire retardant on a hot spot next to Angeles Crest Highway, near where it intersects with Highway 38*. The plane didn't crash. After releasing the chemical mix, the pilot banked away from the cliff side and flew away for another run.

* The intersection with Highway 38 is still there, but that highway has been closed from Angeles Crest Highway south to just above Crystal Lake since the 1960's when huge pieces of it washed away down the steep hillsides during a particularly wet and rainy winter. Now, Highway 38 is closed several dozen miles further south because of 1) the Curve Fire when that picture of the plane was taken, and 2) this past, even wetter winter when still more of the deteriorating highway was washed away.

many thanks for all the information Lonnie

the plane still looks unreal there in the shot , almost 'on top' of the 'calm' people
must be the how the photographer took it
to me it's giving a wrong impression,

why would the people stand so near so much chemical discharge ( or anything like it)
:rolleyes: or even a plane 'crashing'

:shock:
the plane looks massive ,
in the shot just, but in proportion to the people, who look so small
and they are all looking down,
checking out that the stuff is 'hitting' the right spots ,
I guess


:confused:

[thomascanty]

the plane still looks unreal there in the shot , almost 'on top' of the 'calm' people
must be the how the photographer took it
to me it's giving a wrong impression,

why would the people stand so near so much chemical discharge ( or anything like it)
:rolleyes: or even a plane 'crashing'

I think it's the angle the picture was taken from that is throwing you here. I don't think the plane was really as close to the cliff and people as it seems from the picture. It's just that it's so big, it seems much closer than it really was. Of course, I wasn't there so I can't say that for sure.

As for how calm they are... That fire burned for over a month. Those guys had probably seen this same scene hundreds of times by the time this picture was taken.

[marie]

I think it's the angle the picture was taken from that is throwing you here. I don't think the plane was really as close to the cliff and people as it seems from the picture. It's just that it's so big, it seems much closer than it really was. Of course, I wasn't there so I can't say that for sure.
As for how calm they are... That fire burned for over a month. Those guys had probably seen this same scene hundreds of times by the time this picture was taken.
thanks Lonnie
I understand how the men are used to the fires
I meant they were calm and looking around as though the plane was not there at all , even at a 'near' distance
the photo just seems weird , they all do not seem part of it
(together)
:confused:
must be an optical illusion
and I'm having a bad hair day ....or something

:lol:

[vcutag]

Maybe it was shot with a telephoto lens? Wouldn't that have a kind of compression effect, making the background and foreground objects look closer to each other?

[thomascanty]

Maybe it was shot with a telephoto lens? Wouldn't that have a kind of compression effect, making the background and foreground objects look closer to each other?

That could be. I have no idea what kind of equipment the photographer was using, so that's definitely a possibility.

[Mills]

Great shots! Especially of the water & chemical drops.