The five trees on my property that were scorched in the Canyon Fire of 1999 are healing nicely. These huge Sycamore trees shade my home from the hot sun as it moves across the sky.

Vegetation I planted also offers a nice barrier from the noisy traffic that runs back and forth some 100 feet from my home.

The reports about the Ono area fires that were getting close to Clear Creek and Lower Gas Point roads to the west of Happy Valley were nerve-wracking. Nine years ago I survived the Canyon Fire as it skirted across the valley when I lived at the west end of the area near Cloverdale Road. The Canyon Fire stayed about 1 mile from my home. The fires that have merged in the Ono area are farther from my home than the Canyon came, but the recent fires have been raging out of control with high winds shifting back and forth.

I cringe to think what our charred North State looks like from the air, but when it’s all over, I plan to review it with one of my pilot friends who needs very little reason to fly.

It’s a shame to think about all that beautiful timber around Rainbow Lake in Ono being destroyed, and I feel for anyone who lost their home or whose home was threatened. There is no way to measure what is lost when fires consume a home.

And, those raging fires seem to claim whatever is living in their paths. Thank God we have firefighters who risk their lives to save structures and that which is alive around them. I was extremely glad to see the DC 10 bombers back over our skies last week. We’ve needed that air power for a week or more.

Whether they are in the air or on the ground, we take the people employed in high risk positions of service for granted. And, on top of it all, I can’t imagine wearing a hot, heavy fire proof uniform in the middle of all that heat, day in and day out, as healthy men and women battling blazes breathe tainted air through respirators.

I have such mixed feeling about people refusing to leave their homes, fearing the firefighters won’t choose to save it.

The fact of the matter is that they can’t always save them all. But, we don’t always agree on the decisions they make when faced with saving a $500,000 home versus a $150,000 one. I don’t know the criteria they use. I’m sure the terrain they have to deal with has something to do with it. People are advised to have the 100 feet of clear space around their homes. When they build in high fire risk areas, and don’t have adequate clear space, they can only blame themselves.

Personally, I would never build or live in an area that was dry and brushy in the summer months. All it takes is one major disastrous fire to wipe it all out. I agree, the views from the mountains must be spectacular, especially certain times of the year when all the snow laden mountains are towing in the distance.

My land is flat, with two paved, county roads boarding the west and north sides. My horses keep it void of vegetation so my defensible clear space is more than 100 feet in all directions.

A good plan for anybody concerned about fire is to have a sprinkler system on their roofs. I plan to get on in place at my home. All a person needs is some PVC pipe up one wall and around the eves to the top and a few sprinklers popping up here and there. Then it’s a matter of turning on a valve and evacuate when the flames get too close.

Everybody should have a plan, but how many of us do? All the important photos and documents should be kept in a portable file that can be grabbed up and taken at a moment’s notice if you don’t have a thick, fireproof and waterproof safe in the house.

I suppose any small valuables should be kept in a small safe that can be picked up and taken along when you are forced to evacuate. Somehow we don’t think about these things until voila, disaster strikes – so much for hindsight.

Anyway, thanks firefighters, you are our heroes.