Firefighters Monument, Junction City, Trinity County, CA

In Junction City, CA at the fire station, there is a rock monument which was dedicated in remembrance of those brave firefighters that lost their lives while fighting fire. The fires were horrific, and many firefighters from all over came to fight many fires. It was a tragic season for the lives that were lost during those terrible fires.

The people who live in the area have not forgotten and are very grateful for those that sacrificed their lives in the fires of 2008. They will always be remembered as brave souls that helped fight some of the worst CA fires ever.

We appreciate all the work the firefighters do in the area every day. We see the trucks filled with firefighters every day on Hwy 299 driving to and from the fires. You see them in groups at restaurants, stores, hotels, camp grounds, and always at the local fire stations. There were a few just resting in the shade on the day that I stopped by the monument. They were fully dressed, it was 100 + degrees outside, but the heat rarely seems to faze them.

Thank You!

Burned Mountainside @ 299 and Whiskeytown

I took these pictures a few days ago. This is literally by the highway. From what I understand, this area was burned intentionally to create a back burn so the fire could be stopped before getting to the highway.

The fires in Trinity county are not completely contained according to the Record Searchlight this morning.

The Eagle Fire remained at 32,059 acres with 99 percent containment Wednesday. The Buckhorn Fire was at 28,439 acres with 94 percent containment while the Carey Fire in the Trinity Alps Wilderness was at 3,698 acres with 95 percent containment.

This is just a few of the fires. Many more acres between Shasta and Trinity counties have burned. I believe close to 1 million acres have burned in California alone from fires.

Below is a link to the Cal Fire Website. The link below is to the fire maps. You can see, what fires are currently burning and also, a cumulative fire map. I am sure more land has burned since the August 11 date on the map. Seems like fires everyday around Northern California.

http://www.fire.ca.gov/index_incidents_maps_links.php

Even two days ago, there was a serious fire near the Turtle Bay Bridge. A couple hundred acres burned. It was only a few blocks from the house here.

Whiskeytown Burned

My dad recommended that I go and check out the mountains that were burned off of Hwy 299W at Whiskeytown. I drove by there and took some photos of the lake and the mountainsides that had burned. When this was burning I am pretty sure is when Hwy 299 was closed at points in July.

Blue Skies

This morning the skies were blue. The night time was very smoky, but the morning was a nice change. Unfortunately, more people needed to evacuate along highway 299 at Big Bar, California. The fire took a turn for the worse yesterday morning.

Fires in Junction City

After swimming I drove home, via Oregon mountain and stopped at the side of the mountain to take pictures of the fires burning on another mountain. You can see where the smokes is coming from the fires. While I was stopped there taking pictures another woman stopped. We noticed another huge billow of smoke from another fire. As it turns out the woman looked familiar and it was a friend of my mothers.

You can see the smoke from the fires to the left, and to the right.

Close up shot of the smoke.

Another Smoky Sunset

It has been a good five days or so since the skies were blue. Hopefully that will change today. Last night was smoky too. Got a picture of the sun going down, in the smoky haze. Later that evening when going for a walk I noticed the moon was rising in the haze.

Smoky Sunset in Weaverville

This photo was taken from the backside of the Weaverville Elementary School.

As usual

Like every night for the past month, I awoke in the middle of the night to the smell of smoke. Seems like it rolls in in the early mornings. I awoke from the smell as my window was open. The smell is terrible, and hurts the throat.
I shut the windows, turned on the Nikken air purifier, and went back to sleep. Luckily, when I awoke this morning the air was clear, and the smell gone. Thank goodness!

Smoky Day on the River

Memorial for Firefighters

Today there is a memorial for the firefighters.
It was a 6am. I wanted to go but it was fairly far.
I send all my thoughts to the families. They must be suffering.

More Smoke Today

Last night the smoke rolled in. My cousins were leaving, and the doors and windows
had been open all day/evening, when I suddenly realized it smelled strongly of smoke.
I quickly shut the windows and doors, for the night. I guess I forgot one this morning.
The house still smells like smoke this morning.
Blue skies were so nice yesterday! Hopefully the smoke will clear today.

Trinity River - Smoky haze

This is the Indian Creek at the Trinity River where the creek runs into the river, off of 299 E.
They recently cleared back the brush and are restoring the river. There is a cute little hotel/motel here, called Indian Creek Lodge. Been there since I can remember. To tell you the truth, I have never set foot on the property, but driven by it millions of times.

Behold Partial Blue Skies

Wow! You can actually see blue skies this morning. What a great day!!!
It would be very nice if the fires were gone before August.
All of July has been a fiery fire all around. I have called this summer
Fires of 2008 so far.

Whiskeytown Lake

This is Whiskeytown Lake, although you can barely see the lake through the smoke.
There were about four fire engines here at the stop when I was there. On there way to fires no doubt.