Burned Tree

I thought a picture of one of the hundreds of burned trees in Fountaingrove might be turned into an interesting abstract, but I decided the glimpse into the rebuilding process which is finally getting underway there is more interesting.

Hundreds of burned trees were cut down but many were left to see if they would come back. After eighteen months it appears that if they were going to do that, there would be some signs of life by now. The ones on city property are slowly being cleared, but it is the responsibility of the property owners to cut down ones on their property. Many people have decided not to rebuild and their lots are either for sale or sold to absentee buyers. Who knows how long these black skeletons, some quite tall, will remain standing.

Our route to the other side of town takes us regularly over this hill and it is interesting to follow the progress. This particular area has been one of the slowest to rebuild. The plastic water mains all melted, contaminated the water with benzine, and had to be rebplaced. The location is controversial both because there isn't supposed to be any building on ridge lines and because this area burned in a fire with a similar footprint in 1964. It isn't clear to us how these houses were built in the first place and the house nearing completion in the background gives an idea of the size and scale of the houses that burned. Many older residents decided that they no longer needed such a big house and moved elsewhere.

It's good to see all the activity here. I actually felt quite sorry for the few people whose homes were spared. They were living in a devastation zone and drinking bottled water. The only traffic was dump trucks and workers in hazmat suits clearing debris as mandated by the state. There were no street lights and probably no electricity. In some cases the houses were damaged, but not beyond repair. I would almost have wished, under those circumstances, that my house had burned. But it is just not possible to put a monetary or an emotional price on losing everything.... 

It is possible to see why people would want to live here. The views are spectacular.