Fire on the Mountain:

 We knew it would happen eventually.  Every summer we have at least a couple of local fires on the foothills along our stretch of the freeway  and with this summer being especially hot and dry I guess I am surprised it took this long to happen.  This photo is looking north from our home and the fire is serving as a backdrop to the home two houses down and across the street from ours.  Our son-in-law woke us up with a phone call around 12:30 to let us know that there was a fire.  Heading out the front door I didn't see anything immediately, and then, smoke, fire, there it was.  We knew it wasn't nearly as bad as it looked and with no wind to change the normal inclination of fires to head up the hill rather than down, we took out our lawn chairs to watch.  I was, after all, concerned enough NOT to go back to bed before I knew it was completely out.   Some of our neighbors took the concern a notch higher and began to fill their cars with valuables in case they needed to make a fast exit.

 The fire was out by 1:30 a.m. and I, thankfully, went back in bed.  The police had told us that night that the fire was started when a transformer blew and sparks ignited the grass surrounding the pole.  This morning Roger took a walk along the fire break road to see how far the fire had spread and the damage that was done before it was put out.
   

Above is a photo taken from the freeway.  Doesn't really look as bad as it did last night.

 Roger found the location of the start of the fire -

and the poor culprit.   No transformer, but apparently an owl had, in attempting to land
on some wires, shorted out the power lines causing the sparks that started the fire.
Sadly, he paid dearly for his transgression.