Burbank Fire (4 pics)

all the photographs are very good

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

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?

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.

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

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.

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

that last is a photo and a half


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)

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)
or even a plane 'crashing'


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

marie wrote:
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)
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.

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)

must be an optical illusion
and I'm having a bad hair day ....or something

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.

Great shots! Especially of the water & chemical drops.