In the comments yesterday we talked about the 2011 fire. (Click here for more pictures.)
June 26, 2011. Flames are slightly below our house.
We weren’t allowed in for weeks. This is a picture of our land from a distance when the landowners and their insurance representatives were escorted in to assess the damage.
July 18, 2011
Click here for more pictures of that visit.
April 1, 2021
Wow. No words come to mind. Just, wow.
Yes. That about sums it up. 🙂
fire is So devastating.
and as you’ve proven… you can rebuild your house.
but those acres and acres of beautiful Trees! and all the wildlife lost.
so very tragic.
I’m glad things are greening up again. it gives one hope.
and it must give new meaning to the word Spring every year! xoxo
The problem is fire is an important part of the ecosystem and we’ve been suppressing it so long that the forest was overgrown and the fire incredibly hot, baking the soil, etc.
It looks like your entire house burned down. I am so sorry! I can’t imagine going through something like that, losing everything.
It could have been a lot worse, we were, and are, living down here in an apartment. It was still heartbreaking to lose all the trees and was a lot of work to rebuild.
All I can think is that I’m glad you weren’t living there at the time. It’s still devastating but had you been there it could have been so much worse.
Yes. Its a great place for Andy to go every day, and for the rest of us to use on special occasions. But at our age Andy and I are better off living down here.
even though this was years ago my heart hurts for what you went through, those photos are beyond my imagination… this had to be utterly devestating. is the green house on the same hill where this home was?
Yes, our new house is at about the same place as the old one, and the greenhouse is essentially next door.
So you had a greenhouse before and you’ve now built a new one?
A tragic loss of house, trees and wildlife. I imagine quite a lot of vegetation has grown back by now.
The conifers are growing back except for the ones we’ve planted, but a lot of the other vegetation is doing fine. Which means a lot of work for Andy to keep the defensible space clear.
At first we thought the new greenhouse would be where the old one was, but it’s so much more convenient right next to the house.
Can’t imagine losing a house to Mother Nature—fire, flood or storms. Hugs to anyone whose been through that.
Thanks.
I was going to ask if you were living up there at the time, then saw your reply (above). Still…. That photo of the surviving fireplace is something. Did y’all keep it, in some form to memorialize what was?
We haven’t used it in years but we keep it to see how much snow we get. We originally we bought it to burn slash when we were cleaning the area. I may write a post about that for old times sake.
I just don’t know what to say…I was telling Roger the other day about the fire that destroyed your place. (It came in as I was telling him about your green house. ) Fire is just so devastating…but like you say, it is part of the natural world.
Yes, we’ve been trained to believe fires should always be suppressed. It turns out that’s not the best policy.
a decade ago as such – and I remember all those posts of the time – at least you were able to rebuild – Andy still has his hobby to keep him happy….
Yes, it was the right decision to stay here and rebuild. We’re very happy.