Fire!

Today at 11:43 a small brush fire was reported behind the residence at 1236 Grand Canyon, said lt. Peter Rodriguez of the Brea police department. Brea Canyon road was shut down between Tonner canyon road and Brea Boulevard shortly thereafter. The area behind the residence is a undeveloped area of Brea and is right across from Brea Cañon oil companies old property. There is much dry brush and many possibilities to start fires, such as power lines and oil field equipment (and workers). Luckily for the firefighters, there are access road to easily fight brush fires. Provided that they are not blocked by couches and litter dumped by lazy canyon goers.

I was probably one of the first to notice the fire as my house looks over the canyon and I was outside mowing my lawn. I noticed a strange amount of smoke coming from the canyon so I hopped on my bike and rode it around the corner to where I had a better view. I didn't call the fire department as I assumed somebody already had. Shortly thereafter, I could hear sirens echoing through the city and I could hear the skies being torn asunder by aerial water drop helicopters. I took a break and watched the brave men and women of the Brea fire department and the surrounding cities work to quickly get the fire contained. Brea Canyon road was open at 1:20 this afternoon CHP says. I am very happy the fire was contained and I couldn't help but to think back on the fires of November of 2008 in neighboring Carbon canyon.

There are remains of two old houses in the area where the fire was today that seem to have been occupied as residences at one point and later used as offices. I have personally explored the remains of these houses and the fire access roads that I mentioned in the past, going all the way to the top of the hill where a old water tank is. With the large amount of dry brush, oil field equipment and workers, fires are destined to happen. One smoldering cigarette can destroy thousands of acres. A scary but true thought is arson. Why anyone would want to do that is beyond me, but it does happen. The fire roads aren't secured very well, simply a gate to keep cars out and a sign that happily displays a "NO SMOKING" sign and a "NO TRESSPASSING" sign are about all that will deter someone from entering these fire roads. I have no problem with these gates, however if someone really want to get into this area of the hills they easily can. Arson is a very high possibility of how this fire was started. If I find out how this fire was started, I will update this as soon as I find out.


--Corey