Living in a fire prone area

I originally published this in 2008 a few months after we had just gone through another horrible fire season.  The 2007 fire season was the second worst for the San Diego area.

I live in the eastern part of the city of San Diego, California. I don't live in the backcountry, but as you know, it doesn't really matter when it comes to wildfires around here. There have been major fires only a mile or two from me. Over 20 years ago, we lost over 40 homes in a neighborhood right here in the middle of an urban area only a couple miles from my home. 

Where I live, it's very urban, but we have small canyons all over the place. Sometimes, homeless people will camp in them and start fires. In the case of the 40 homes that burned, I believe it was either a backfire of a car or a cigarette thrown from a roadway at the bottom of a brushy hill that moved quickly up to the homes. Human activity is often the instigator of a lot of wildfires. So, fires are a big threat in the city as well as in outlying areas.

There is the same kind of brushy hill that burned in that fire not even a half mile from my home. But, people have been better at clearing their brush then they did back then. They will get fined if they don't and they can only have certain types of plants in certain areas of their landscaping. Where I work, there is a large, natural, urban park that is often prone to fires. I work next door to a fire station and when they head towards that park, I know it's because of a brush fire. The area had a lot of shake shingle roof homes there that have been converted to more fire-resistant material. But, there are still a few buildings here and there that have the old type of roof on them.

I feel sorry for people in the backcountry areas whose homes and businesses are often worth over a million dollars easy. Sometimes it seems that clearing brush doesn't work when the fire gets big enough.

Welcome to San Diego Shorebirdie!

Welcome to my new blog!

I used to write for Yahoo Voices which is part of the Yahoo Contributor Network.  It's a user-content generated site where you got paid.  Before that, it was Associated Content.  I didn't write much for either one.  For some reason, my account was locked for almost two years.  Then, after emailing support over and over all that time, I finally got back in and wrote some more articles.  Not too many, but some.

Now, Yahoo Voices have closed and I wanted a place to post my content.  One of the other sites I use, Examiner.com, doesn't like people reposting content from other sites.  And, Gather, a site that I've been a member of for about seven years, doesn't pay me anything anymore.  I thought about putting my old content on Tumbler, but I thought, hey, why should I post on a site owned by Yahoo and still not get anything.  Then, I thought, maybe I can get something for my efforts on a new blog where I can control the content and the ads.  So, I am giving it a shot.

I am only going to re-publish relevant content.  Some of the content that I had on YCN, such as a review of a yogurt shop that closed earlier this year and about the transition to digital television, for example, will not be republished.

What to look for in this blog:

I plan to start out posting some of my old Yahoo Contributor Network content that is still relevant.  Look out for an article on the Southwestern Monsoon, which is happening right now as we speak here in California.  I plan to post that right after I finish this post.   I am going to try posting to this blog at least once a week or every two weeks, probably on a Sunday.

Also, look for new content such as a list of holiday events here in San Diego and even some restaurant reviews or reviews of other venues in the San Diego area.  I also plan to post recipes, but I usually reserve that for sites like Squidoo.  If I can't post them there, I will post them here or both.

For most of my San Diego nature and craft news and events, you will have to visit my Examiner page.  

So, hopefully, you've made it this far in my post and will read more when I put them up. 

My other blogs:

Feel free to visit my other blogs.  Desert Darlene's Art and Photo Blog where I post my latest artwork and links to where you can buy prints.  And Killdeers, Phoebes and Finches which is almost totally non-commercial and has lots of bird photos.

Next post:  Why I Look Forward to the Southwestern Monsoon