On our drive towards Caleveras county, I had no idea what to expect. I joined a team from our field office that was\u00a0working on the emergency stabilization and rehabilitation plan for the devastating Butte Fire, which had consumed about 70,000 acres of land over three weeks in September. As we got closer to the edge of the burned area, there were more signals\u00a0of what lay\u00a0ahead – signs thanking firefighters and law enforcement, warnings against looting and unlicensed contracting, stations offering free food, water, and clothes.<\/p>\n
Abruptly, the ground on one side of the road turned black – then, both sides. Some properties had escaped the flames, and some had suffered minor damages. \u00a0Others were burnt to the ground – small traces, an above-ground pool or chimney, were all that remained. The desolation was hard to comprehend as we approached the public land that we were planning to survey.<\/p>\n
It was a huge relief to get out of the residential areas. Without the painful indications\u00a0of human loss, one could almost imagine being on another planet. \u00a0Here, all was grey, orange, and red. \u00a0Without leaves blowing, or bees buzzing, it was very quiet – flies were about the only thing that moved. \u00a0 But even here, you couldn’t look far without finding some trace of human life – a charred\u00a0beer can, or the metal threads of a tire. \u00a0Even when these remnants were difficult to identify precisely, their geometry, their unmistakable built-ness, served as inescapable reminders that this still was, after all, our world.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On our drive towards Caleveras county, I had no idea what to expect. I joined a team from our field office that was\u00a0working on the emergency stabilization and rehabilitation plan for the devastating Butte Fire, which had consumed about 70,000 … Continue reading ![\"2\"](\"https:\/\/dev-clm-blog.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/2.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"1\"](\"https:\/\/dev-clm-blog.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/4.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n