Deceptively Serene...

...for the time being

Click on photos to enlarge - © 2007 jim otterstrom

Looking north across Stanfield Marsh

Big Bear was deceptively calm at 7:20 this morning considering that the raging 'Slide' & 'Grass Valley' fires are burning just about 20 miles west of here. Hundreds of homes have been destroyed in those mountain communities nearest to our valley. We have good friends in both the Running Springs and Lake Arrowhead areas and I hope they haven't lost their homes. Yet more homes are surely burning even as I post this picture of tranquility.

A View to the west from the same location
An ominous layer of dark smoke lies over the San Bernardino Mountains west of the Big Bear Dam where much destruction is occurring. Because of the Santa Ana winds that have been blowing from the northeast, fanning these fires, we have had smoke free blue skies here throughtout the firestorms but that may be about to change.

The Santa Ana's have died down now and we'll most likely return to our normal westerly winds which will bring the smoke directly into big Bear.

A Rising Plume
This shot was made 15 minutes later & a 1/4 of a mile farther west along the shore of the marsh.
A plume of smoke begins rising in the general direction of Lake Arrowhead and I suspect that before today is over Big Bear will be a very smoky place.

Hopefully we won't get any strong westerlies or we may be in trouble here.

Very large fires are burning right over there and last I heard they were zero percent contained.

See post below for an update