Month: October 2014

At 5:04 PM on October 17, 1989, the earth shook. The San Andreas fault, one of California’s and the world’s most infamous fault lines, shifted violently beneath the Loma Prieta peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The force of the shift resulted in a 6.9 magnitude earthquake that sent shockwaves throughout California and, most notably, the densely populated San Francisco Bay Area. Continue reading Memories of Loma Prieta

It began on the evening of Saturday, September 13. A small fire took hold of the landscape in Pollock Pines, California and began moving from tree to tree in this forested community hit hard by the ongoing drought. By Sunday morning, it was clear that the King Fire would not be going without a fight. Within hours, the fire quickly jumped in size from 500 acres to 1,000 to 2,000.

The billowing smoke put on a dazzling display for onlookers as it “boiled” over the tree tops. A fleet of firefighting aircraft swarmed the skies overhead, bombarding the blaze with everything they had but having minimal impact. The terrain was rugged, the wilderness like kindling, and the wind driving the flames beyond the reach of firefighters. Continue reading When Disaster Strikes