We had just finished paying the bee removal guy and the plumber was almost finished with his work when I saw and smelled some smoke coming from the lower half of the property.
I got up on the deck of the wood house to get a better view and snapped this picture:
So close you could hear the crackling of the fire and flames and see ashes flying thru the air!
Now the way my brain tends to work, I try to figure out how the fire got started and being a problem solver I try to think of how to put it out. At this point my brain is trying to figure out how a fire way down below could have started….
The canvas the bee guy used in his bee smoker
Being from Colorado when we have fires, they are usually caused by some careless camper that didn’t extinguish their campfire or from hot embers that rise from campfires. It’s also the dry season here and I’ve noticed a lot of areas around Rincon have gone crunch dry brown.
My initial thought was, “Oh crap, don’t tell me that the bee guy set the property on fire……”.
It was really pretty far away so I was totally over-reacting but still, once that thought had entered my mind it was lodged there for a while. We set Rincon on fire! We’ve all seen the news stories in CA when fires start and people’s houses burn down and huge areas are just consumed by flames.
The plumber saw the flames and called the fire department. They let him know that they had received several calls already, so I wasn’t the only one concerned.
We went to talk to the neighbor. He informed us that there is a guy who always sets that field on fire to get rid of the Pica Pica (from what we hear Pica Pica is a bean pod looking ‘weed’ that releases a fuzz that makes you itch) …LOL. So my fears of having indirectly burnt Rincon to the ground were put to ease. The neighbor let us know that once the fire reaches the trees, it stops.
We went back home and in about 10 minutes as the flames reached the tree line, they stopped, just as the neighbor had said they would.
It’s hard when you’re in a new place and you don’t know what is normal and what isn’t. It’s a good exercise for my worry side to learn how to relax and go with the flow.
Hibiscus Flower at our Front Gate
I would have freaked out too!! Here in town if we see smoke we call the fire department. We certainly don’t think about someone burning weeds in town, lol. Glad everything turned out ok.
it use to be more common to see people burn in pica pica season. It’s like mowing the lawn! I have a few neighbors who I WISH would burn their lots. Especially across the street from us, the pica pica is NASTY there. ah .. the price of paradise!
A local told me that there have been quite a few brush fires recently. He said that sometimes they start when a piece of broken glass magnifies the sun on dried grass. Yet another reason not to pollute!
Yep, fire, smoke, cracking, and a wood house, are surely danger signs.
I heard Pica-Pica was more end-of-Feb or March. I think it’s called Cow Itch too. Not to dry clothes outside during that period.
we get pica pica from January to March. I think we’re only over a few hills. are you on the first right on the 413?? We’re to the left of Speedway (the hill going down to Casa Islena)
Burning is allowed certain times of the year, I thought only February which is stupid since it is the dry season. People burn so they don’t have to “clean” their property with a trimmer. These are the same people that spray chemicals to kill stuff during the wet season. Our friend had a neighbor burn their 5 acres (killed 80 percent of their trees) and almost burned their house down. The neighbor claims it was his “workers” that did it so there is no compensation. Then when the rain starts all the soil washes a way. Smart, huh. Worry. You might want to dig a fire line!