Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association

THE URBAN INTERFACE
HOMES IN DANGER!

The Urban Interface:

Lookout towers like South Mt. Hawkins are making a come-back across the United States. Not only the United States Forest Service, but also the California Department of Forestry (CDF), and in the Pacific Northwest, several private firms and townships are also staffing towers to protect their communities from wildland fires.

It is true that the forest does need fire in order to stay healthy, but, not all fires are good for the forest or for mankind. Man caused fires happen much more often then the forest can sustain, and there is a greater danger... homes being burned by wildland fires.

Living near the woods and nature is wonderful, but there is risk. The area where the homes of a town or city lie adjacent to wildlands is called the "Urban Interface" area. Not only are these homes at risk, but homes that are located as far as 2 to 4 miles from the interface are also in danger, so there is no getting around the urban interface risk by simply not building too close to the woods.

Early fire detection in these areas are critical not just for the sake of property, but for the many lives that are at risk. The South Mt. Hawkins Fire Lookout Tower provides protection to several communities.

Imagine Your Neighborhood:

Below are photos taken by Matt Artz during the "2003 Old Fire". Matt and his family had to evacuate his home during this emergency, but he was still able to capture some dramatic pictures.

The pictures below were reprinted with permission and are copyrighted 2003 & 2004 by Matt Artz. Do not use without permission. The pictures here were reduced for size. Matt's narration is in this "rust" color.

Saturday, October 25, 2003. A fire starts in Old Waterman Canyon above San Bernardino. The smoke from this fire now obscures the plume from the Grand Prix fire. This photograph was taken about 1 p.m..
The fire is miles away, and the wind is going the opposite direction. All would seem ok but in a few days time Matt and his family will be forced to evacuate his home.

7:30 p.m. Fanned by strong Santa Ana winds, the fire is about two miles East of us. We went to sleep at about 10:30 p.m.
At about 11:30 p.m., a San Bernardino County Sherif car rolls down the street with the lights on: "Pack up your belongings, mandatory evacuations are coming in two to three hours."
Think about this... if you only had a one-way trip out of your home, and only a car, what would you take with you?

Sunday, October 26, 2003. 2:45 a.m. With the cars packed and half the family evacuated to Temecula, there's nothing much left to do but sit back and watch. Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep.
Fires often take a "nap" at night, but in California the winds can keep them going all night long. Many people go to bed thinking they are safe, only to find a fire near their backyards.

8 a.m. It's hard to tell, but the fire was moving to the right of the picture, and came right up to the burnt-out remains of the "Bridge Fire", which burned the area a month or two ago. So it burned itself out. At least for a while.
Although fires "lay down", they often fool people into thinking they are safe. Firefighters know better and keep an alert eye on weather conditions that can take a little fire and whip it up into an inferno again.

12 noon. It's back. Huge walls of flames, sometimes whipped up to 150 to 200 feet tall, consume the south side of Mt. Harrison.
Notice the lack of trees? Many people often believe that because there is no forest, there is no "forest fire". The low grasses and brush that cover California hillsides are just as deadly during a "wildland fire".

It was getting pretty intense...
Homes that are 4 miles away from a large blaze have been burned by hot embers thrown high into the air. Here, the black smoke is itself flammable as fuel burns so quickly that the fuel takes to the air. You can see "smoke on fire" in the deep orange glows.
On very large fires, these flammable clouds can sometimes get enough oxygen at the higher altitudes to reignite thousands of feet in the air!

12:30 p.m. The sky was getting darker and darker, but thanks to the direction of the wind, we still were not getting any smoke or ash at our house!
This is a classic Urban Interface photograph. Matt really captured the disaster that was about to hit his town. The "Old Fire" combined with the "Grand Prix Fire", but the following statistics are just for the "Old Fire" alone:
Fatalities: 6 Civilians
Structures: 993 Homes, 10 Commercial Buildings
Acreage: 91,281
Response Cost: $42,045,093
(Source: San Bernardino Country Operational Area - Emergecy Operational Center, Plans and Intelligence Section)

1:30 p.m. The neighborhood was really starting to buzz with activity now.
If you scroll back to the 8 AM pictures, you will see that the wind has changed directions and that the fire has now entered new fuels. Again, no trees, but simple brush and grass is all it takes.
It is also good to note the fire retardant roofs in this neighbor hood.

Wow.
Agreed!

2 p.m. For a while, the helicopters were focusing their effort on a different area (where the flames were closer to homes) suddenly there were five or six helicopters rapidly dumping as much water as they could on the advancing line of flames. This is one of the smaller helicopters, which carries a large bucket of water beneath it.
Air attack, and Air Assault are effective fire fighting tools, but wind conditions, smoke, and daylight hours can limit their effectiveness. When the fly boys can't get there, the ground pounding army of hot shots go to work with their shovels and lots of sweat.

Monday, October 27, 2003, 3:45 a.m. Some time during the night, it picked up again; now there's a large front moving down towards the houses.
5:30 a.m. Coming down even closer to the houses now.
The fire now in it's third day is still a threat for Matt and his family.

6:15 a.m. Wake up kids, time to go to school! Oh, yeah, look out your bedroom window.
Another morning and it looks like there is little wind near the surface, but higher up, you can see the smoke bend away from the mountains. Another indication that the Santa Ana winds are still in control of California.

8:15 a.m. Up the street, a crowd has gathered to watch the fire advance, and a street is open only to residents. California Department of Forestry (CDF) trucks drove up the streets to take position.
It's called "Defensible Space". If units can get to the homes and be safe, they can fight the fire. Sometimes people do not trim the weeds or brush from near a home, and firefighters have no choice but to abandon such houses as it would be too unsafe to defend them. In a disaster like this, hard choices have to be made in the name of safety.

2:45 p.m. They closed the road. Residents only.
People don't realize that if a large fire get's too close, their car engines WILL NOT START. Cars need air to run, and so does the fire. In many cases, the fire takes the oxygen a car needs and it will not start. People want to stay until the last minute, but little do they know, they already stayed too long and they find themselves with no car to escape.
Then, add to the danger people coming up because "I just want a closer look" while other people are trying to get out of the area.

6:30 p.m. People start calling us telling us it's back, and it's coming fast right up behind the house. There's a dark orange glow to the north.
7:00 p.m. My house is the one with the garage open on the right.

7:15 p.m. The flames started to pop over the last small ridge. Things started moving very rapidly now. We were almost fully packed, and were busy watering things down, etc. People in the neighborhood were running around helping each other shut off gas lines, water, and electricity.
7:30 p.m. The flames were moving incredibly fast, and we could now hear the roar of the flames. A police helicopter was flying over us with a searchlight, saying something over and over again. I was able to make out the word "evacuation" but nothing else. Nice try guys, but nobody on my street could hear what you were trying to tell us!
Although it was pretty obvious. I guess the whole neighborhood was in denial. We had packed, unpacked, packed again; we had waited for almost 48 hours, and now it was actually happening.

At 8:00 p.m. a motorcycle cop came by to warn us stragglers to get out NOW. We drove down the street about 100 yards, and were stopped in bumper-to-bumper traffic!
By 8:40 p.m., we were at my work. The whole family, including our dog, camped out in my office to calm down for a little bit and think about our options. I was also checking my email, and offers of places to stay flooded in. So many that it was hard to deal with! We decided to stay a couple miles away with my co-worker Kelly and his wife. They were awesome, and it was so great to have a bed to sleep in!

The fire came right down to the new development. Except for a few scattered clumps of dried grass here and there, there is no fuel left for any more fires.
Well my friend Matt, don't be so sure... you see it is possible for a burned area to burn again. Sometimes firefighters have seen up to 3 "waves" of fire sweep existing burn areas. This is a good time to keep the brush clear from your home.
Also, as new grasses take hold in the following months, smaller grass fires can also erupt. It all depends on several factors but generally, things will be "safer" for awhile.

Some lots have been cleared and are ready for rebuilding, while others still hold the remains of the burned houses.
While some people think, "so what, insurance will pay for it" that is a big mistake! Many insurance companies only pay a partial settlement, thus leaving some homeowners stuck.
In other cases, some home owners have indeed lost everything and they can't come back from this disaster.

Notice the large trees here. When a wildland fire comes to the "Urban Forest", a whole new dynamic occurs. As in the case in San Bernardino, the fires took out houses in "fingers" that feed from tree to tree deep into the city.
How are your trees?

Many homes were lost in the Del Rosa neighborhood of San Bernardino. Some folks are living on their lots in recreational vehicles until their homes are rebuilt.
There are so many things to do when you loose it all... like removing the debris and getting all the permits to rebuild. Many of these labors are not seen on the Television news programs after the fires are out.

It's amazing to see how the fire jumped around; a few houses burned to the ground, then a house untouched by the blaze, then the remains of several more houses.
This is one of the strangest effects of fire. Sometimes how a house is built, and clearances of brush around the home can change the fate of luck.
Notice in this shot the brown hills in the distance. This is where the fire occurred only a few months ago. Not charred black, but brown. This is the dirt, and the first level of dry grass that has gone dormant for the winter. Healing takes place right away and new growth begins again.

A couple hours after we got home, my daughter painted this picture. Art is great therapy!
Thank you to the Artz family. Your pictures have helped us tell the story of the "Urban Interface". Hopefully someone will see this and be inspired to not only help us rebuild our Fire Tower that can provide early detection, but also look into clearing the brush around their home, fixing that old "shake shingle roof", or simply think about what they would take if this happened in their neighborhood.
Also, thank you to all the firefighters that worked so hard to save so many!

To see more of Matt Artz pictures, and to see his complete Urban Interface essay... visit his website at Matt Artz Photography. Matt has offered to donate one of his signed high quality photographs for our fundrasing effort. More information to come soon!

Help us rebuild the South Mount Hawkins Lookout Tower, so that we can put more "eyes on the forest".

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The ANFFLA is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) corporation and your gift is tax deductible to the extent of the law.

	Saturday, October 25, 2003. A fire starts in Old Waterman Canyon above San Bernardino. The smoke from this fire now obscures the plume from the Grand Prix fire. This photograph was taken about 1 p.m.. The fire is miles away, and the wind is going the opposite direction. All would seem ok but in a few days time Matt and his family will be forced to evacuate his home.
	7:30 p.m. Fanned by strong Santa Ana winds, the fire is about two miles East of us. We went to sleep at about 10:30 p.m. At about 11:30 p.m., a San Bernardino County Sherif car rolls down the street with the lights on: "Pack up your belongings, mandatory evacuations are coming in two to three hours." Think about this... if you only had a one-way trip out of your home, and only a car, what would you take with you?
	Sunday, October 26, 2003. 2:45 a.m. With the cars packed and half the family evacuated to Temecula, there's nothing much left to do but sit back and watch. Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep. Fires often take a "nap" at night, but in California the winds can keep them going all night long. Many people go to bed thinking they are safe, only to find a fire near their backyards.
	8 a.m. It's hard to tell, but the fire was moving to the right of the picture, and came right up to the burnt-out remains of the "Bridge Fire", which burned the area a month or two ago. So it burned itself out. At least for a while. Although fires "lay down", they often fool people into thinking they are safe. Firefighters know better and keep an alert eye on weather conditions that can take a little fire and whip it up into an inferno again.
	12 noon. It's back. Huge walls of flames, sometimes whipped up to 150 to 200 feet tall, consume the south side of Mt. Harrison. Notice the lack of trees? Many people often believe that because there is no forest, there is no "forest fire". The low grasses and brush that cover California hillsides are just as deadly during a "wildland fire".
	It was getting pretty intense... Homes that are 4 miles away from a large blaze have been burned by hot embers thrown high into the air. Here, the black smoke is itself flammable as fuel burns so quickly that the fuel takes to the air. You can see "smoke on fire" in the deep orange glows. On very large fires, these flammable clouds can sometimes get enough oxygen at the higher altitudes to reignite thousands of feet in the air!
	12:30 p.m. The sky was getting darker and darker, but thanks to the direction of the wind, we still were not getting any smoke or ash at our house! This is a classic Urban Interface photograph. Matt really captured the disaster that was about to hit his town. The "Old Fire" combined with the "Grand Prix Fire", but the following statistics are just for the "Old Fire" alone: Fatalities: 6 Civilians Structures: 993 Homes, 10 Commercial Buildings Acreage: 91,281 Response Cost: $42,045,093 (Source: San Bernardino Country Operational Area - Emergecy Operational Center, Plans and Intelligence Section)
	1:30 p.m. The neighborhood was really starting to buzz with activity now. If you scroll back to the 8 AM pictures, you will see that the wind has changed directions and that the fire has now entered new fuels. Again, no trees, but simple brush and grass is all it takes. It is also good to note the fire retardant roofs in this neighbor hood.
	Wow. Agreed!
	2 p.m. For a while, the helicopters were focusing their effort on a different area (where the flames were closer to homes) suddenly there were five or six helicopters rapidly dumping as much water as they could on the advancing line of flames. This is one of the smaller helicopters, which carries a large bucket of water beneath it. Air attack, and Air Assault are effective fire fighting tools, but wind conditions, smoke, and daylight hours can limit their effectiveness. When the fly boys can't get there, the ground pounding army of hot shots go to work with their shovels and lots of sweat.
	Monday, October 27, 2003, 3:45 a.m. Some time during the night, it picked up again; now there's a large front moving down towards the houses. 5:30 a.m. Coming down even closer to the houses now. The fire now in it's third day is still a threat for Matt and his family.
	6:15 a.m. Wake up kids, time to go to school! Oh, yeah, look out your bedroom window. Another morning and it looks like there is little wind near the surface, but higher up, you can see the smoke bend away from the mountains. Another indication that the Santa Ana winds are still in control of California.
	8:15 a.m. Up the street, a crowd has gathered to watch the fire advance, and a street is open only to residents. California Department of Forestry (CDF) trucks drove up the streets to take position. It's called "Defensible Space". If units can get to the homes and be safe, they can fight the fire. Sometimes people do not trim the weeds or brush from near a home, and firefighters have no choice but to abandon such houses as it would be too unsafe to defend them. In a disaster like this, hard choices have to be made in the name of safety.
	2:45 p.m. They closed the road. Residents only. People don't realize that if a large fire get's too close, their car engines WILL NOT START. Cars need air to run, and so does the fire. In many cases, the fire takes the oxygen a car needs and it will not start. People want to stay until the last minute, but little do they know, they already stayed too long and they find themselves with no car to escape. Then, add to the danger people coming up because "I just want a closer look" while other people are trying to get out of the area.
	6:30 p.m. People start calling us telling us it's back, and it's coming fast right up behind the house. There's a dark orange glow to the north. 7:00 p.m. My house is the one with the garage open on the right.
	7:15 p.m. The flames started to pop over the last small ridge. Things started moving very rapidly now. We were almost fully packed, and were busy watering things down, etc. People in the neighborhood were running around helping each other shut off gas lines, water, and electricity. 7:30 p.m. The flames were moving incredibly fast, and we could now hear the roar of the flames. A police helicopter was flying over us with a searchlight, saying something over and over again. I was able to make out the word "evacuation" but nothing else. Nice try guys, but nobody on my street could hear what you were trying to tell us! Although it was pretty obvious. I guess the whole neighborhood was in denial. We had packed, unpacked, packed again; we had waited for almost 48 hours, and now it was actually happening.
	At 8:00 p.m. a motorcycle cop came by to warn us stragglers to get out NOW. We drove down the street about 100 yards, and were stopped in bumper-to-bumper traffic! By 8:40 p.m., we were at my work. The whole family, including our dog, camped out in my office to calm down for a little bit and think about our options. I was also checking my email, and offers of places to stay flooded in. So many that it was hard to deal with! We decided to stay a couple miles away with my co-worker Kelly and his wife. They were awesome, and it was so great to have a bed to sleep in!
	The fire came right down to the new development. Except for a few scattered clumps of dried grass here and there, there is no fuel left for any more fires. Well my friend Matt, don't be so sure... you see it is possible for a burned area to burn again. Sometimes firefighters have seen up to 3 "waves" of fire sweep existing burn areas. This is a good time to keep the brush clear from your home. Also, as new grasses take hold in the following months, smaller grass fires can also erupt. It all depends on several factors but generally, things will be "safer" for awhile.
	Some lots have been cleared and are ready for rebuilding, while others still hold the remains of the burned houses. While some people think, "so what, insurance will pay for it" that is a big mistake! Many insurance companies only pay a partial settlement, thus leaving some homeowners stuck. In other cases, some home owners have indeed lost everything and they can't come back from this disaster.
	Notice the large trees here. When a wildland fire comes to the "Urban Forest", a whole new dynamic occurs. As in the case in San Bernardino, the fires took out houses in "fingers" that feed from tree to tree deep into the city. How are your trees?
	Many homes were lost in the Del Rosa neighborhood of San Bernardino. Some folks are living on their lots in recreational vehicles until their homes are rebuilt. There are so many things to do when you loose it all... like removing the debris and getting all the permits to rebuild. Many of these labors are not seen on the Television news programs after the fires are out.
	It's amazing to see how the fire jumped around; a few houses burned to the ground, then a house untouched by the blaze, then the remains of several more houses. This is one of the strangest effects of fire. Sometimes how a house is built, and clearances of brush around the home can change the fate of luck. Notice in this shot the brown hills in the distance. This is where the fire occurred only a few months ago. Not charred black, but brown. This is the dirt, and the first level of dry grass that has gone dormant for the winter. Healing takes place right away and new growth begins again.
	A couple hours after we got home, my daughter painted this picture. Art is great therapy! Thank you to the Artz family. Your pictures have helped us tell the story of the "Urban Interface". Hopefully someone will see this and be inspired to not only help us rebuild our Fire Tower that can provide early detection, but also look into clearing the brush around their home, fixing that old "shake shingle roof", or simply think about what they would take if this happened in their neighborhood. Also, thank you to all the firefighters that worked so hard to save so many!

THE URBAN INTERFACE HOMES IN DANGER!

The Urban Interface:

Imagine Your Neighborhood:

THE URBAN INTERFACE
HOMES IN DANGER!