After San Diego nearly burned down last year, and much of LA too, it almost seemed as if there wasn't anything left in California to burn.

But there is. There's one big fire I've been following that scares the hell out of me. They're calling it the Basin Complex:

As I write this, it's 69,000 acres and only 5% contained. In other words, it's just shy of 280 square kilometers and still growing.

I just found this news article about that fire. Turns out there's a million standing dead oak trees in that area, victims of a fungus. Most of them have been dead for at least a year, so there's been plenty of time (and hot, dry weather) for the wood to dry out.

They were beginning to gain control over the fire. Then a brush fire near Santa Barbara flared up, and the Forest Service had to pull a bunch of firefighters out and send them south.

Now the Basin Complex has burned an area comparable in size to the heavily populated part of south Bay, and it ain't over yet. Will they be able to stop it before it reaches Monterey? I dunno, but if I lived in Monterey, I'd be mighty nervous right about now.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Weird World at 10:41 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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