Wednesday, October 24, 2007


Fire is out now - except for smoldering hotspots. This is a view looking back from the ocean side, up at the hills with flames behind.

My heart is wrenched when I see the wildlife, and imagine how many were burned or injured... lizards, rabbits, deer, foxes, oh so many critters who were immolated.




A terrible sunrise in Malibu.

27 comments:

Tom & Icy said...

Life is so full of contrasts to look at this and then some of the other pictures you posted. We never know what to expect. Or how suddenly things can change.

won tong said...

Hey Terry Bear I snitched some of your awesome photo's of the fire, I hope you don't mind. I figure it was easier for people to just see them on my blog than try and send them to yours.Wow we have so many memories don't we...unreal. Also my girlfriend very good friend here went over to England Europe with her husband and he passed away there. Pray that Geo. and I can be of some help to her please. love me! xxooxxoo

TLP said...

The fires are terrible! And yet, your pictures are wonderful. Strange.

SIMON said...

An excellent contrast between the beauty and the horror. Nice post Terry!

Crabby said...

Those are some awesome shots! Jake was out there during the fires. He said when he flew out it was like flying over a war zone.

lime said...

glad it's out....still, how awful.

Anonymous said...

The terrible sunrise in Malibu looks especially .... sublime. Many don't have time for helping critters when their own lives are in danger. It is very sad.

RED MOJO said...

It's a relief to see the fires are out. My heart goes out to all the displaced humans and animals, the suffering and loss continues a while longer.

G-Man said...

Terry..
What an awful gut wrenching series of events..great pics as usual..Thanks..xo

Autumn Storm said...

Strange pictures to see, indeed, as tom&icy said, the difference between them and the many you have posted over the months is about as divided as can be. That last picture especially just seems so, in a word, wrong.
Just glad, Terry, that the fires are no longer raging out of control and that the danger is all but over. On a personal level, glad that yourself and the other Cali bloggers all got out safe. So sorry for those, people and animals alike, who didn't and for all the damage done. Hope you have some semblance of a normal weekend.

Kingcover said...

You get a sense of helplessness from that last picture. There you have millions of gallons of water which could be used to put the fires out quite easily but yet it can't be used as effectively as that. Terribly sad.

Hopefully the residents in those areas will get their lives back to normal very soon :-)

Anonymous said...

terry so sad so very sad and to think some of it could be arson makes the veins in my neck stick out.
I can't think about the critters or I will be depressed for weeks.
tc

G said...

Wow those pictures certainly tell a story. May everyone be brought back to their homes soon. That deer picture is just so sad, poor scared thing.

PS: I heard a stroy on NPR about a Nursing Home relocated to a stadium (forgot the name, you'll know) and it just heart wrenching. These poor old folks who are in wheelchairs having to sleep in army cots?!

Prayers and good thoughts for all effected.

tsduff said...

Tom and Icy - if life were always the same expected way, we would all go our of our minds. Changes bring good and bad, but forward motion is the key.

Sister Celtic - So sad to hear of your friend's husband passing. If anyone can lend strength and support it is you and your George.

TLP - yes, they are terrible. But amazing as the orange smoke changes the landscape. You can almost smell it, just with your eyes as you gaze upon the photos. that smokey smell is forever engrained in my soul.

Simon, as terrible as those fires actually are, they also inspire awe in the beholder, just from the sheer powerful reality of how they rock our little world.

Crabby - it IS a warzone. A war complete with fire, smoke, death and destruction. Only the enemy isn't man.

Lime - yes, glad it is out too. The church has already held it's first eccommunical (community) service and things are hopeful.Out of the ashes there is life.

Actonbell - Fire can be a nightmare from which the waking find they are still living in the horror. When I lost my own house to a house fire (daughter left a candle burning in her room in 1998)it was unbelievable. But there is always hope and renewal afterward.

Icarus said...

Terry, of all of your extraordinary photos capturing just how it is out there, this is without doubt the strongest. Hardly needs words. But it is eloquent because it shows us a new angle, the beachside, like Apocalypse Now. I've seen nothing like it on TV or in the press, so it deserves a much wider audience.
Adding the whole series together, you have truly brought us the monstrous tragedy, the horror of what wildfires can do. You know that we in Portugal also know this too well, along with the insanity of humans actually starting some of them.
It makes you want to weep, for us, for our poor planet, for everything. But thank you and stay well!

Icarus said...

I've returned just to add this PS: these are also, of course, the "Flames of Eden".......

Nessa said...

Jeez.

photowannabe said...

I'm visiting from Icarus's blog. Amazing and devestating pictures about the fire. The one taken on the beach at sunrise is so artistic and frightening at the same time.
I will be back to visit again.

tsduff said...

Annonymous: The beach picture was taken around 8:15am at the local beach (Corral Beach) where I spent my summer days lolling about on the sand, just north of the famous stretch of Malibu public beach. Surreal at best.

Yes Red - the suffering will go on, with the loss and injuries of the wildlife largely uncounted. The Earth and her inhabitants to recoup, and eventually recover, but it is mind numbing when the losses are all told.

Galen - thanks. You are right - gutwrenching. Makes those of us who really lost nothing turn around and feel humble, and helpless.

Thanks Autumn. I never thought I'd see Corral Beach framed so terribly - I've seen it shrouded with fog & mist, baking in brutal sunburning rays of harsh sun, cool with dancing breezes bringing salty moistness to my nose... but never billowing clouds of thick smoke with the sun bleeding through like a mortal wound...

Kingcover - yes, rather ironic. They actually did use the ocean to scoop up water with their helicopters... it was a big help.

TC - The Malibu or "Canyon" fire was caused by wind-blown downed power cables, and fanned into a frenzy by the raging Santa Anas. I have heard the news reports of the some of the other fires, which were set by arsonists. There lies my ocnfusion - I cannot no matter how hard I try, understand how a person would want to set a fire like these. What would anyone get out of that? Killing people, animals, causing so many dollars of damage... I know it is not a sane person anyway.

G - I think you are referring to Poway Nursing Home - lots of folks were relocated before the order to evacuate actually came down, to the Stadium or other hospitals in the area so there would be less confusion and panic, when the actual order was received. Hard to watch, hard to believe, and hard to comprehend the mass scale on which this disaster hit.

The deer picture makes me want to cry, because I think about how many critters that one deer represents who didn't outrun the fire.

Icarus - this picture was submitted to the Malibu Surfside newspaper with no byline from someone's cell phone, so I am unable to give credit to the photographer. That picture on the beach draws me in - I wish so much I could have been there myself. With each fire from my hometown, it is like that... I feel as though I am still a part of it because it is still such a part of me. Indeed, weep for the planet, it's twisted inhabitants, and the ignorance with which we treat her. They are indeed, The Flames of Eden Stewart.

Nessa - I know, words escape me too.

Photowannabe: Welcome - I've seen you over at Icarus' places. Thank you for your comments - I enjoy your photos as well. We're practically neighbors you know ;)

Tai said...

So much devastation...my heart goes out.

Ariel the Thief said...

Your last photo sums it up so well... I hope better days are coming to malibu now!

Ariel the Thief said...

*Malibu

javajazz said...

man
that really puts things in perspective...
wow.
xo

jillie said...

I get so heart sick as well Terry. I know that in a perfect world, they would all be saved. I have seen some pretty drastic pictures on the internet and had to stop because I started to cry.

Those are great photos Terry and they say so much.

Thankfully the fires are just about under control.

xo

Lone Grey Squirrel said...

I am so sorry at the loss and damage. Thanks for sharing and keep well.

Aura said...

Very tragic, I hope it will never happen again..
My thoughts and prayers to all concerened.
Terrifying and yet so beautiful sunrise photo in Malibu .

Thanks for sharing!

Minka said...

There are pictures everywhere. This autumn has seen one catastrophe after another. What's up with teh universe?

Since I live that far away, has anything been discovered as to how the fires got started...if it is a stupid question...maybe answer anyway...I kinda need to know :)